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EXPLANATION OF CHART. 



The column marked A represents the true churches, 
each independent of the other. The red shows when 
they were persecuted, and the heavy black lines and black 
circles show the persecuting powers. It will be seen that 
the true churches have been persecuted in every century 
since the days of the apostles, while they have never 
persecuted others. 

The column marked B gives the names by which the 
true churches were known in each century, and the 
column C gives the places where they were to be found 
in the corresponding periods of time. The dark back- 
ground in this column shows the Waldensean, or Wilder- 
ness period of the churches. 

The line of stars shows the period of time in which 
Baptists can trace their history church by church. 

At the right hand of the column of true churches will 
be found some which became corrupt — clouded — and 
dropped out of line. In the second century these formed 
themselves into Synods — coalesced, and formed a diocese 
under one bishop. In the fourth century these Catholic 
organizations combined with the civil government under 
Constantine, and became a great hierarchy. 

Some of the branches of this hierarchy are shown in 
the chart. The examples given show how all other exist- 
ing organizations have been formed. There were but 
two kinds of churches, as shown in the chart — Catholic 
and Baptists — until 1054, when a final division occurred 
in the Catholic party, forming two branches — Roman 
Catholic and Greek Catholic churches. All other exist- 
ing church organizations of the present day, except the 
Baptists, resulted from the reformation of the sixteenth 
century. 

The circle over the date, 1891, represents the Congre- 
gational Methodists. 




- 



COMPENDIUM 



— OF — 



BAPTIST HISTORY 



SHOWING THE 

ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS, FROM 
THE DAYS OF THE APOSTLES TO THE PRES- 
ENT TIME, WITH AN ORIGINAL CHART, GIV- 
ING A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF SOME OF 
THE DENOMINATIONS OF CHRISTIANS WITH 
WHICH THEY HAVE COME IN CONTACT. 



By J. A. SHACKELFORD. 



LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY: 

Press Baptist Book Concei 

1892. 



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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1892, by 

J. A. SHACKELFORD. 
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 






CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
Importance of an accurate knowledge of church his- 
tory. Christ the founder of the true churches. 
There are true and false churches. Scriptural 
anathemas against false doctrine. Lack of in- 
formation concerning a Scriptural church. How 
we are to find the true churches. Necessity of 
being loyal to the truth, 11 

CHAPTER II. 
Advent of John the Baptist. He heralds the prom- 
ised Messiah. His commission from heaven. 
John prepares disciples. In what this prepara- 
tion consisted. The Baptism of Christ, 16 

CHAPTER III. 
The English word "church." Its New Testament 
meaning. Calling of the disciples. Constitu- 
tion of the first church. Names of the members. 
Had they been baptized? The first meeting of 



CHAPTER IV. 

Institution of the Memorial Supper. The Ascension. 
The church repairs to its meeting place. Mem- 
bers enrolled. The church transacting business. 
Nominating a successor to Judas. The election. 
Meeting of the church on the day of Pentecost. 
Baptisms. Additions, 30 

CHAPTER V. 
Establishment of other churches. Persecutions. 
Paul's conversion. Paul and Barnabas engage in 
Missionary work. Other churches planted. Paul 
put to death by order of Nero. Services in the 
Temple cease. Church at Smyrna. Polycarp 
pastor. Church at Lyons. Ancient use of the 
term bishop. Independence of the churches. 
Persecutions. Church at Carthage. Montanists. 
Novatian and the Novatians. Donatus and the 
Donatists. Persecutions. Faith of the Montan- 
ists, Novatians and Donatists. Anabaptists, 39 



4 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 

HERESIES AND PERSECUTIONS. 

Rise of heresies. Persecutions at Lyons. Baptismal 
regeneration with its train of evils. Rise of in- 
fant baptism. Boy bishops and presbyters. First 
infant baptized, on record. Severe persecutions 
of Christians under Dioclesian. Constantine 
comes to the throne. Council of Nice. More 
persecutions. Scripture no longer the rule of 
faith with Catholics. Synods. Constantine 
moves the seat of government to Byzantium. 
Church and State united. Christianity blended 
with Paganism. The true witnesses retire to the 
valleys of Piedment, 55 

CHAPTER VII. 
Waldensean Period — 1260 years, 65 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Waldensean Period— Continued. 
Anabaptists, Donatists, Paulicians, etc. Severe per- 
secutions of Paulicians. Were the Paulicians 
Baptists? Some of their characteristics, 70 

CHAPTER IX. 
Waldensean Period— Continued. 

Albigenses the same people as the Paulicians. Their 
faith. Severe persecutions of Albigenses. Eyes 
plucked out, noses cut off and driven to other 
garrisons. One million of lives sacrificed. Pa- 
terines. Their belief. Catholics baptize by im- 
mersion. Baptisteries. Paterines punished for 
opposing infant baptism. Tongues pulled out, 80 

CHAPTER X. 
Waldensean Period— Continued. 
Petrobrussians. Henricians. Arnoldists. Lyonists, 
or Poor of Lyons, all shown to be Waldenses. 
Persecutions for rejecting infant baptism. Se- 
vere persecutions in the valley of Loyse, 97 

CHAPTER XL 
Waldensean Period— Continued. 

Waldenses. Their persecutions. Flight into Cal- 
abria and final destruction in Piedment valleys. 
Were they Baptists? Their faith. Confession 
of Faith published in 1120, 112 



CONTENTS. 5 

CHAPTER XII. 

Waldensean Period— Continued. 

Waldenses. Importance they attached to regular or- 
dination. Conversion of Echard, the Jacobin 
monk. Testimony of a Catholic to the faith of 
the Bohemians, who were Baptists. Huss and 
Jerome of Prague burned. Severe persecutions. 
Dead disinterred and burned. Others burned or 
buried alive. Driven to. the Alps in the night. 
Women and children perish. Private marks on 
their gates by which the Waldenses might be 
known in Germany. Walter Lollard. Mosheim's 
testimony to the origin of the Baptists, 122- 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Heresies and Persecutions. 

Churches lose their independent character and form 
Synods. Infant baptism enforced. First pope in 
succession. Charles the Great forces baptism 
upon the Saxons. Pouring and sprinkling insti- 
tuted for baptism. Image worship. Transub- 
stantiation. Infant communion. Persecutions 
under the Greek empress, Theodora. The Greek 
church. Trine immersion. Corruptions of the 
Greek and Roman clergy. Papal power. Henry 
IV. of Germany, at the gate of Pope Gregory VII, . 13$ 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Heresies and Persecutions— Continued. 

Raymond, Count of Toulouse, whipped in his shirt by 
a Cardinal. Corruptions of the Catholic clergy. 
Baptism of foetus in utero. Baptism of dead in- 
fants. Baptism of Gen. Grant by Dr. Newman. 
Baptism of a dead body. Baptism forced upon 
the Livonians. Catholics try to force communion 
upon Baptists. Belief of the doctrine of Transub- 
stantiation required by the court of Rome. Per- 
secutions of the Albigenses. Papal power. Louis 
VII. of France and Henry II. of England act as 
grooms to the Pope. Horrid massacre at Beziers. 
Frederick II. of Germany deprived of his crown 
by the Pope of Rome, 154 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XV. 
Reformation of the Sixteenth Century. 
Causes which gave rise to the Reformation. Some 
of the practices and doctrines of the Catholic 
church. Mass. Indulgences. Tetzel's indul- 
gences. The Confessional. The end justifies the « 
means. Corruptions of priests. Intolerance of 
Romanism. Declarations of priests and papers. 
Martin Luther. Ulric Zwingle. The Reformed 
church. John Calvin. The spirit of persecution. 
Baptists not Protestants. Diet of Spires. Pro- 
tests. Some Waldenses form a junction with Cal- 
vin's church at Geneva. Ancient and modern 
Waldenses. The Inquisition. The Munster riots, . 166 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Waldensean Period— Concluded. 
The King of France obtains possession of the Pied- 
mont country. Severe persecutions follow. Pres- 
byterians persecuted. Waldenses imprisoned 
and their children dispersed among Catholic fam- 
ilies. Piedmont depopulated of its ancient inhab- 
tants. The dreary march to Switzerland, and 
the sorrowing pilgrims. Fifty millions of per- 
sons destroyed by the Catholics since A.D. 250. 
"Come out of her my people," 182 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Anabaptists: or Baptists. 
Montanists, Donatists, etc., called Anabaptists. Ana- 
baptists objects of common aversion. Their 
origin hidden in the depths of antiquity. Acephali. 
Edicts against anabaptism. Baptists ordered out 
of Moravia. A piteous appeal. Persecutions for 
opposing infant baptism. Anabaptists disinterred 
and burned. Baptists burned at Smithfield. 
Regular administration of baptism. King James 
persecutes Baptists. Presbyterian persecutions. 
London Presbyterian clergy on religious liberty. 
Twenty-five for sprinkling and twenty-four 
against it. Baxter's opinion of immersion. 
Sam'l Oates indicted for baptizing. Presbyteri- 
ans banish Baptists from Switzerland. John 
Bunyan's imprisonment and Dean Stanley's ora- 
tion. John James hung and quartered for his 
Baptist principles. Act of Uniformity. Conven- 
ticle Act. Five-mile Act. Baptists come to 
America, 194 



CONTENTS. i 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Baptists in America. 
How Baptists came to America. The manner of form- 
ing Baptist churches. Roger Williams not the 
founder of the first Baptist church in America. 
Newport the first church and John Clarke the 
first pastor. First church in Boston. Arrival of 
Rob't Nordin from England. Baptists in Virginia. 
An entire church comes from Wales with its pas- 
tor. Other churches proceed from this and Bap- 
tists emigrate to the South and West. The 
church at Swansea. Other ministers come from 
Wales, 216 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Persecutions in America. 
Enactments against religious liberty. Holmes and 
Painter whipped. Persecutions by Presbyterians 
in Massachusetts. Persecutions in Virginia. 
James Ireland, John Weatherford, Lewis Craig 
and others imprisoned. Persecutions in Southern 
Russia and Cuba at the present time. Persecu- 
tions by Congregationalists in Massachusetts. 
Origin of pulpit affiliation. Imposition of hands. 
Associational communion, 230 

CHAPTER XX. 
Baptists and Religious Liberty. 
Baptists and religious liberty in Germany. Strug- 
gles for religious and civil liberty in America. 
General assessment bill defeated in Virginia by 
Baptists. Gen. Washington's testimony to Bap- 
tist loyalty. Constitutional provision for equal 
religious rights. Baptists oppose a union of 
Church and State. Testimony of Ypeij and Der- 
mout to the origin of the Baptists. Testimony 
of Alexander Campbell to the origin of the Bap- 
tists. What Baptists have accomplished in one 
century, 250 

CHAPTER XXI. 
Church Succession. 
Welsh Baptists and their early ministers. The 
Piedmont of the Welsh Baptists. Their churches 
and Associations. English Baptists originate as 
did the We]sh. Some old churches and interest- 
ing facts. Churches found to exist before the 
Reformation. A succession of churches 261 



8 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Branches of the Roman Catholic Church. 

The Presbyterian Church, 283 

The C. P. Church, : 288 

The Episcopal Church, 290 

The M. E. Church, 293 

The Methodist Protestant Church, 299 

The M. E. Church, South, 301 

The Congregational Methodists, 305 

The Lutheran Church, .308 

The Congregationalists, 310 

The Campbellite Church, 313 



PREFACE. 



IT was not the author's purpose, in the begin- 
ning, to write a history of the Baptists. He had 
conceived the idea, many years ago, of preparing 
a chart of Church History which would give a 
bird's eye view of Baptist History, with its rela- 
tions to the Catholic hierarchy, and the branches 
of the Romish church. In order to do this it be- 
came necessary to compile a great deal of his- 
torical matter, and group this into the centuries in 
which it respectively belonged. 

As the chart grew, century by century, the his- 
torical matter accumulated correspondingly. When 
the chart was completed, a sufficient amount of 
historical facts had been collected, from various 
sources, to make a large book. The demand for 
the chart has, in like manner, created a demand 
for a book embracing the facts, as no one book, 
nor any dozen books contained them, as illustrated 
in the chart. Hence this work, abridged as much 
as possible, is given to the public. 

If the abrupt transitions grate harshly upon the 
cultivated ear, it must be remembered that the 
work has been condensed as much as possible in 
order to give the full text of the authors quoted, 



10 PREFACE. 

that the work may be used as a book of reference, 
to take the place of many volumes to which the 
ordinary reader has not usual access. 

The work has been prepared for the use of the 
masses, who have neither the time to read, nor the 
means to purchase numerous books upon church 
history. To meet the demands of this large class 
of persons repetitions sometimes occur, that the 
truths may be firmly fixed in their minds, and that 
they may, with this book, be able to meet and 
vanquish the adversaries of truth. The author 
hopes that the more scholarly will waive this ap- 
parent defect, for the benefit of the larger number 
of readers. 

Fraying that this work may be used for the 
glory of God, and the advancement of his truth, 
the book is sent forth upon its mission. 

J. A. S. 

November, 1891. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 



CHAPTEK I. 

Importance of cm accurate knowledge of church 
history. Christ the founder of the true churches. 
There are true and false churches. Scriptural 
anathemas against false doctrine. Lack of in- 
formation concerning a Scriptural church. How 
we are to find the trice churches. Necessity of 
oeing loyal to the truth. 

T\ N unusual interest lias, of late, been awakened 
£®\ in the study of church history. This is a hope- 
ful indication. It shows that many are disposed 
to turn away from human organizations, and seek 
for the true church of Christ, as revealed in the 
Gospels. It is worse than folly to suppose that 
the Saviour left his work so incomplete that unin- 
spired men, of later years, must take it up and 
bring it to perfection. It must be a recognized 
fact that Christ established his Church, as a u pillar 
and ground of the truth." 

All institutions, claiming to be churches, which 
antagonize the churches of Christ, must be false, 
and are, therefore, of Satan. The God of heaven 
could not have instituted organizations that rival 
his own, or bring his people into disrepute. "He 



12 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

that is not with me is against me ; and he that 
gathers not with me scattereth abroad." 

That there should be organizations claiming di- 
vine origin, and yet lacking the sanction of Christ, 
is not strange. "Men have stolen the livery of 
heaven to serve the Devil in," and Satan has 
masked himself with truth, that he might drag 
souls down to ruin. Error has ever been gilded. 
There is nothing very valuable that has not been 
counterfeited. The presence of the counterfeit 
attests the existence of the genuine. If there was 
not a true church there would be no false churches. 
The lines must be sharply drawn. Error must be 
unmasked, and the truth brought into contrast. 
The multiplicity of so-called churches awakens 
the thought that all cannot be churches of Christ. 

Would God impede the progress of his own 
cause ? Would he build but to tear down ? He is 
not the author of confusion, but of peace. He 
may purge, but will never destroy his churches. 
The splendor of his truth will blaze out amid the 
darkest gloom. His kingdom must destroy all 
other kingdoms. In order that this may be ac- 
complished, there must be a contest between truth 
and error. God's word must be kept before the 
people. All creeds must be tried by his word, and 
the wood, hay and stubble be burned. 

The churches of the present day should corre- 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 13 

spond exactly with the divine original. Nothing 
short of this should satisfy the inquirer after truth. 
Church histories are plentiful. Men have traced 
the histories of their own organizations back to 
their origin, and with pride they sometimes point 
to their founders. But who was the founder of 
the New Testament churches ? When and where 
was the first church on earth established and who 
were the members? 

These are questions which many cannot answer. 
We need a treatise of this kind ; one so plainly 
written that the simplest mind may compare its 
statements with the divine record. We need also 
to compare the doctrine of the true churches with 
those of the false churches of the world, in order 
that the errors of the one may be the more clearly 
seen when brought into contrast with the truths of 
the other. Surely the Holy Spirit did not so obscure 
the truth that we cannot find it. We propose to 
look into the Scriptures for a Scriptural church, 
and then trace its history through the intervening 
centuries. This can only be done in many in- 
stances by the light of the martyr fires, or the 
blood-stained foot-prints of the suffering witnesses. 

Men have come to attach the word church to all 
organizations engaged in Christian work. Such 
organizations, unless they bear the marks of a 
Scriptural church, are usurping the authority of 



14 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

Christ, and will receive the anathemas of heaven. 
"As we said before, so say I now again, if any 
preach any other gospel unto you than that ye 
have received, let him be accursed." — Gal. 1:9. 
"If there come any unto you and bring not this 
doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither 
bid him God speed, for he that biddeth him God 
speed is partaker of his evil deeds." — 2 John 
10:11. With these passages of Scripture before 
us we not only cannot afford to be wrong our- 
selves, but cannot recognize any organization 
which does not bear the marks of a Scriptural 
church. Loyalty to the truth, and to our Master, 
requires that the principles and doctrines of the 
New Testament churches be kept prominently be- 
fore the people. 

That a large proportion of Christians do not 
know what constitutes a gospel church, is seen 
from the diverse opinions respecting it. People 
talk about the "universal church," "the church 
at large," "branches of the church," etc. These 
expressions convey but an indefinite idea of a 
church, and one without any foundation in Scrip- 
ture. They show, however, a necessity for an in- 
vestigation of the subject from a Scriptural stand- 
point. The great question which should interest 
us is, what was the nature of the organization 
which Christ called his church, and the relation 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTOEY. 15 

that we sustain to that organization ? Does that 
organization exist to-day ? If so, how can we as- 
certain the fact ? 

Evidently if we can find the particular organi- 
zation in the New Testament which Christ called 
his church, and ascertain the declarative principles 
governing the New Testament churches, then find- 
ing these principles perpetuated in existing or- 
ganizations of the present day, we have found a 
gospel church. To this one, and to this alone, do 
we owe allegiance. Before it let every other or- 
ganization claiming the rights and privileges of a 
church perish. Let us oppose such organizations 
as we would oppose a false god, and "earnestly 
contend for the faith which was once delivered 
unto the saints." 

The blood of martyrs in other ages attested the 
love they bore to the cause of Christ and the truths 
of his word. We should be no less faithful in our 
day. Human traditions are as displeasing to God 
now as they were eighteen hundred years ago. 
Among all the conflicting doctrines as taught by 
men, we can only hope to find the truth in the 
word of God. 



16 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 



CHAPTEK II. 

Advent of John the Baptist. He heralds the prom- 
ised Messiah. His commission from heaven. 
John prepares disciples. In what this prepara- 
tion consisted. The Baptism of Christ. 

THE advent of John the Baptist into the world 
was not an unexpected event. Although his 
birth had*not been announced by angels, as was 
Christ's, yet God had declared, "I will send my 
messenger and he shall prepare the way before 
me." — Mai. 3:1. "Behold, I will send you Elijah 
the prophet before the coming of the great and 
dreadful day of the Lord : and he shall turn the 
heart of the fathers to the children, and the 
children to their fathers, lest I come and smite 
the earth with a curse." — Mai. 4:5, 6. Jesus de- 
clared that it was John of whom this was written. 
— Matt. 11 :10. He also testified that Elias (Elijah) 
must first come, but declared that he had already 
come, and they knew him not. — Matt. 17:11,12. 
We know but little of John's early life. So 
important a personage, under ordinary circum- 
stances, would have attracted the attention of the 
whole world. He came, however, to herald one 
who was "mightier than he, the latchet of whose 
shoes he was not worthy to unloose." In the 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 17 

presence of the great Light which followed him 
he was speedily forgotten. He came as God's 
chosen messenger. No priest could induct him 
into office, for there was none higher than he. 
"Verily I say unto you, there hath not risen a 
greater than John the Baptist." — Matt. 11:11. 
His utterances were the utterances of heaven. — 
Luke 3:2. His deeds were the deeds of God. In 
answer to the question, "Who art thou?" he 
replied, "I am the voice of one crying 'in the 
wilderness." — John 1:23. 

A new light had burst upon a sin cursed world. 
A new era had dawned. Another kingdom was 
about to be ushered in. While many prophets 
had foretold Christ's coming, none lived to see him 
except John. It was his privilege to announce 
Christ's presence. He taught the people that 
Christ was at hand, but he was not yet permitted 
to point him out. He did not know Jesus as the 
Christ, nor would he, until God should make him 
known by the visible presence of the Holy 
Spirit. — John 1:33. "When the Jews sent 
priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, 
"Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied 
not, but confessed, I am not the Christ." — John 
1:19,20. He declared himself the voice of one 
crying in the wilderness, who had come to pre- 
pare the way of the Lord, and that the Christ 



18 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

stood among them, i.e., lived among them, and 
they knew him not. 

John's mission was to make ready a people to 
receive Christ when he did appear. God had sent 
him to do this very thing; he was therefore more 
than a prophet. It was God acting in and through 
him, as if God did this work himself. He said, 
"I am the voice," and "God sent me to baptize." 
It was necessary that there be a people formally 
prepared to receive Christ. ' 'Prepare ye the tvay 
of the Lord." That is, make ready a people to 
receive him. Let them reflect the way or likeness 
of Christ. 

No one could thus make ready a people to 
receive the coming One, without first being com- 
missioned to do so. No earthly power had the 
right to give this commission. Hence John's was 
from heaven. — John 1:6. 

The preparation for discipleship consisted in 
two acts, an internal, and an external, or formal 
one 

1. The internal preparation consisted in repent- 
ance and faith in him who was to come, that is, 
in Christ. Great numbers came to John and were 
baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. 

We have no account of any having been baptized 
by him who did not repent and make confession, 
-nor is there any reason to believe that any such were 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 19 

baptized, for when some persons came to him and 
wished to be baptized without this, he refused, 
and told them to ' 'bring forth fruits meet for 
repentance," that is, produce evidence, for now 
the "axe is laid at the root of the tree." God 
searches the heart, for "with the heart man be- 
lieveth unto righteousness." "Every tree that 
bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down," so 
every one who gives no evidence of righteousness 
is rejected. 

2. To all who produced the evidence, he admin- 
istered the rite of baptism, which was the formal 
condition, or preparation for membership in the 
kingdom of Christ. 

Heretofore John had been preaching in all the 
country about Jordan, (Luke 3:3.), but he now 
moves to the river, in order that he may adminis- 
ter the ordinance of baptism, for God sent him to 
baptize as well as to preach repentance and faith. — 
John 1:33. 

We know not how many were baptized by John, 
but large numbers were, and it is very evident 
that all who accepted his teaching were baptized, 
for we read that "all the people that heard him, 
and the publicans, justified God, being baptized 
with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees 
and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God 
against themselves, being not baptized of him. " — 



20 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

Luke 7:29,30. Evidently the word allreiers only 
to those who heard in the sense of acceptance, for 
it is distinctly stated that the Pharisees and law- 
yers rejected the counsel of God, i.e., did not 
receive the teaching of John, and consequently 
were not baptized. It follows, therefore, as a 
consequence, that all of John's disciples were 
baptized upon a profession of their faith in him 
who was to come after him, that is in Christ. 

John evidently made no effort to organize a 
church. His was a work of preparation for that 
which was to follow, and he was content with 
simply this. If it had been in the power of any 
man to found, or establish a church, it certainly 
would have been the prerogative of John, for he 
was "a man sent from God." John, however, 
shrank from performing any other work than that 
which he was commissioned to do. The people 
pressed upon him, and the publicans, when they 
had been baptized, and the soldiers asked him, 
saying, "What shall we do?"— Luke 3:10-12. 

They were evidently in "expectation" of some- 
thing more, (see ver. 15,) but John "exhorted and 
preached unto them," and kept them in waiting 
for Him whom he announced. Thus the people 
were ready, waiting for their lawgiver. 

John had been engaged in his public ministry 
about six months when Jesus came from Galilee. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 21 

to be baptized of him. Galilee is distant from 
Jordan, where John was baptizing, about forty 
miles, and Jesus came all the way hence in order 
that he might be baptized at the hands of John, 
as a necessary duty before entering upon his pub- 
lic ministry, for we are told that he "came to be 
baptized." To him it was a matter of this much 
importance. Nor did he assume to appoint some 
one to administer baptism to him. He must be 
baptized at the hands of heaven's appointed ad- 
ministrator. Yet this was the Son of God! Let 
those who think lightly of proper authority to 
baptize, think of this. "Let our Lord's submit- 
ting to baptism teach us a holy exactness in the 
observance of these institutions which owe their 
obligation merely to a divine command. Surely 
thus it becometh all his followers to fulfill all 
righteousness." — Wesley, on Matt. 3:16. 

John was evidently expecting a manifestation 
of the Christ to him, (see John 1:33,) but it seems 
that he was not expecting to administer baptism 
to a personage of such distinction, and when Jesus 
asked to be baptized, he said, "I have need to be 
baptized of thee. He recognized in this obedient 
subject, the Son of God. Jesus answered "Suffer 
it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill 
all righteousness." 

In this manner it became Christ to set the 



22 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

example of obedience. And behold ! while he 
came straightway out of the water, the visible 
presence of the Holy Spirit descended like a dove, 
and while it remained upon his head the voice of 
God was heard saying, "This is my beloved Son 
in whom I am well pleased." 

Not since the day when God's presence was 
seen in the burning bush, and when he spoke face 
to face with Moses, had his presence been so 
manifested upon the earth. He spoke now in the 
approving accents of love and peace. Almost in 
a spirit of bewilderment the herald exclaimed, 
' 'Behold the Lamb of God 1" ' 'Again the next day 
after, John stood, with two of his disciples; and 
looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold 
the Lamb of God ! and the two disciples heard 
him speak, and they followed Jesus." — John 
1:35. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 23 



CHAPTEK III. 

The English word "church." Its JVevj Testament 
meaning. Calling of the disciples. Constitu- 
tion of the first church. Names of the members. 
Had they been baptized f The first meeting of 
the church. 

BEFORE proceeding further it will be neces- 
sary to examine into the meaning of the 
word " church." This word has come to be used 
in such a broad sense that it takes in and is ap- 
plied to any religious organization, or society r 
whether a Scriptural church or not. 

By some writers it is made to "include the en- 
tire body of professed Christians." By others it 
means "the spiritual congregation, or aggregate 
of the regenerate, including the saints in heaven, 
the saints on earth and the saints yet to come." 
The general usage of the word at present justifies 
both of these definitions, but its Scriptural use 
does not, nor was the word so used in the time of 
Christ and his apostles. In fact the word c c church " 
is not found in the Greek New Testament, nor 
was it used for some two hundred years after the 
New Testament was written. This is one of the 
words which was not translated by King James' 



24 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

translators, but "kept"* under his third rule which 
required all the old ecclesiastical words to be kept 
and not translated. (See History of English Bible 
Translation, page 433.) 

The English reader is, therefore, misled and 
looks in vain for such an organization in the Gos- 
pels, except when referred to by Christ himself in 
the 16th and 18th chapters of Matthew. 

Dr. William Smith says the derivation of the 
English word church is uncertain, and that its first 
signification was the place of assembly, and after- 
wards imparted its name to the body of worship- 
pers. It was most probably derived from the 
word kirk which signified a house of worship. The 
Greek New Testament nowhere conveys such an 
idea. 

Where the word church occurs in the English 
New Testament we always find ekklesia in the 
Greek. The church of Christ, then, is Christ's 
ekklesia. He said, " Upon this rock I will build 
my ekklesia," and "tell it unto the ekklesia."- 
Hence if we would find Christ's church, we have 
only to find his "ekklesia," for it is one and the 
same thing. 

We will, therefore, examine the Scriptural use 

-Note. — This word church had been in general use so 
long that King James required that it should be kept, or 
retained, when the translation was made under his au- 
thority. The same rule applied to the word baptidzo, and 
hence it was not translated, but anglicized. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 25 

of this word. Ekklesia is a compound from the 
preposition ek, which means from or out of, and 
the word Italeo, which means to call, or to call to- 
gether. Hence we have the word ekklesia which 
conveys not only the idea to call out from, as to 
select from a number of individuals, but also to 
convene together, for a purpose. "The original 
Greek means a congregation, or assembly, good 
or bad." — (Dr. A. Clarke.) Both ideas, the call- 
ing out and the convening together, are always 
conveyed by this word ekklesia. 

It follows then, without the possibility of a mis- 
take, that Christ's ekklesia and Christ's church 
were one and the same thing, and that having 
found his ekklesia we have found his church. 

Soon after the temptations of Christ, and after 
he had entered upon his public ministry, he "was 
walking by the sea of Galilee when he saw two 
brethren, Simon, called Peter, and Andrew, his 
brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were 
fishers, and he said unto them, Follow me, and I 
will make you fishers of men. And they straight- 
way left their net and followed him. And going 
on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James 
the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a 
ship with Zebedee their father, mending their 
nets, and he called them, and they immediately 
left the ship and their father, and followed 



26 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

him."— Matt. 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-19. Here we 
find the first ekklesia. The circumstances of the 
calling comply fully with the conditions of the 
word ek-kaleo. Christ not only called these 
disciples, but he called them out from among the 
other disciples whom John had made, (see Luke 
6:13,) and consequently called or convened them 
together. Thus is the idea of assembly carried 
out, which is always conveyed by the word ekklesia. 

It will hardly be objected that these four were 
not a sufficient number to constitute a church, for 
the conditions of the word were fully complied 
with. We are told, however, that on the follow- 
ing day the Saviour called Philip. — John 1:43. 
In Matthew 9:9, we have the account of his call- 
ing Matthew. Here we have the word kaleo trans- 
lated call, from which the compound ekklesia is 
formed. 

So Jesus continued until the twelve were called, 
whose names were as follows : Simon, surnamed 
Peter, and James, the son of Zebedee, and John, 
the brother of James, whom he surnamed Boa- 
nerges, which is the Son of Thunder, and Andrew 
and Philip and Bartholomew and Matthew and 
Thomas and James, the son of Alpheus, and 
Thaddeus and Simon the Canaanite, and Judas 
Iscariot, who also betrayed him. — Mark 3:13-18. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 27 

Having given a brief account of the calling of 
the disciples, it is proper to inquire from what 
class of persons Jesus selected them, as the word 
signifies that they were called out from other in- 
dividuals. Nothing would be more absurd than 
to suppose that John would be sent to prepare a 
people to receive Jesus, and that having prepared 
a vast number for accepting him, the Son of God 
would select his disciples from among those who 
had rejected the teachings of John. If he selected 
his disciples from among those who accepted 
John's teachings, and he evidently did, then he 
selected such as had been baptized at the hands of 
John. Luke expressly declares that "all the 
people that heard him, and the publicans, justified 
God, being baptized with the baptism of John, 
but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the 
counsel of God against themselves, being not bap- 
tized of him." — Luke 7:29,30. "And when it 
was day he called unto him his disciples, and of 
them he chose twelve, whom he also named 
apostles." — Luke 6:13. 

It must be remembered that all whom John bap- 
tized were the disciples of Jesus, for John made 
no disciples unto himself. It is certainly plain, 
to any thinking mind, that Jesus selected disciples, 
or called them out from among the numbers who 



28 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

were baptized by John, and who had been pre- 
pared to receive him. It has been denied that the 
twelve were baptized, but the conclusion from the 
.above evidence that they had been baptized by 
John, is irresistable. 

There can be no doubt that these twelve disci- 
ples were Christ's ekklesia, or church, because 
(1) he called them ; (2) he called them out from 
the rest of the disciples ; (3) they were convened 
together from time to time and associated together 
continually. They were, therefore, in the fullest 
sense of the word, an ekklesia, and therefore con- 
stituted Christ's church. Throughout the entire 
INew Testament the word church is used in this 
sense, always a body of baptized believers, called 
out and convened together. 

The first recorded meeting of the first church is 
given in the fifth chapter of Matthew, when the 
Saviour preached unto them that ever memorable 
sermon ' 'on the mount. ' ' This was unquestionably 
a church meeting, for it was a meeting of the 
church, "apart from the multitude." "And see- 
ing the multitude he went up into a mountain, and 
when he was set his disciples came unto him, and 
he opened his mouth and taught them." 

There may have been others present besides the 
twelve, but the presence of others of his followers 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 29 

would have made it none the Jess a meeting of the 
church, for we are told that ' ' his disciples came 
unto him and he taught them. ' ' From this time 
they journeyed with Jesus almost continually, 
while he prepared them for the great work which 
was so soon to be committed into their hands. 



30 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Institution of the Memorial Supper. The Ascen- 
sion. The church repairs to its meeting place. 
Members enrolled. The church transacting ousi- 
ness. Nominating a successor to Judos. The 
election. Meeting of the church on the day of 
Pentecost. Baptisms. Additions. 

THE night before his crucifixion the Saviour 
formally assembled his disciples in an upper 
room in Jerusalem, and with them he instituted the 
Memorial Supper. This was the closing act of his 
life as far as it related to his church, and was well 
calculated to remind it continually of the responsi- 
bility which rested upon it as the executor of his 
laws, and the administrator of his kingdom. 

This Supper was to be perpetuated with his 
church, or churches, until he should come again, 
and would remind his servants continually of the 
charge committed into their hands, and their 
responsibility to him as their king. The ordinance 
itself is invested with increased interest when we 
recall the manner in which it was instituted, and 
the hour when it was given to the church. They 
were gathered together, apart from the multitude 
and the rest of the disciples, according to a pre- 
vious appointment of their Master, for he said, 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTOKY. 31 

U I shall eat the passover with my disciples," and 
when it was done he instituted, with them, the 
Memorial Supper. 

The Supper is therefore in a peculiar sense a 
church ordinance. So much so that no one was 
present at its institution except those who com- 
posed the church. Paul makes reference to this 
when writing to the church at Corinth, and says 
he hears there are divisions when they come to- 
gether in the church. He was careful to recount 
the exact manner in which he had first delivered 
this tradition to them, and how the Lord gave the 
Supper to his disciples, and told them "when com- 
ing together to eat wait one for another. 1 ' (R. V.) 
In an especial sense, therefore, did the Lord give 
this ordinance to his church, as such. 

If it is to be observed as he gave it, it must be 
observed strictly as a church ordinance, for cer- 
tainly in this way did he institute it. There were 
many other disciples who had been baptized by 
John, as well as many who had been baptized by 
the authority of Christ, ' ' for he made and baptized 
more disciples than John," yet none of these 
participated in the Supper. Jesus had sent out 
seventy disciples under an especial commission, 
who preached him in every city whither he him- 
self would come, who had been endowed with 
power to perform miracles, and whose "names 



32 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

were written in heaven," (Luke 10:20,) yet these 
not being members of Christ's church, were not 
invited to participate in the Memorial Supper. 
Mary, the loved mother of Jesus, and Joseph, in 
whose new tomb the body of Christ was so soon 
to rest, were neither of them present. 

What a lesson this should teach us in coming to 
the Lord's Supper to remember no one but Jesus. 
"Asa Jewish family they observed the passover. 
But as they were now about to take their stand and 
rank as a Christian church before the world, the 
Saviour gives to them, as the first Christian corpora- 
tion, or church, the supper institution as a memorial 
of himself, their Founder, Head and Life, and a 
pledge of his final coming to take his people to his 
heavenly home. As the passover was God's 
special institution, given to every family of the 
Jewish nation to remind them of the divine inter- 
position by which they were rescued from the 
bondage of Egypt, so the Christian passover, or 
Lord's Supper, is Christ's special institution given 
to every one of his churches to remind all the 
members of their great deliverance from the bond- 
age of Satan, and to keep before their eyes the 
person and especially the sufferings of their De- 
liverer. ' ' — Teasdale. 

This was the last meeting the little church had 
with our Saviour during his natural life, and the 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 66 

last instructions the disciples had from his lips 
were given at this time. Now all the appoint- 
ments of the church are complete, and it is invested 
with full authority to act as Christ's judiciary and 
executive upon earth. Upon it rested the respon- 
sibility of preaching the gospel to a lost world. 

Paul wrote, ' ' Where a testament is, there must 
also of necessity be the death of the testator, for 
a testament is of force after men are dead ; other- 
wise it is of no strength at all while the testator 
liveth."— Heb. 9:16,17. Now that Christ is about 
to die, he of necessity must have an executor, to 
execute his laws and to carry forward his work to 
the end of time. While he lived he was the executor 
of his own laws, and hence his church was not 
vested with this power ; but now that he is to de- 
part, he makes his church the executor of his will 
and testament. The church is fully prepared, so 
far as instruction is concerned, to take the place 
of Christ in the execution of his laws, but not 
until after he had given to the worfd the most 
indubitable proof of his divinity by coming forth 
from the grave and repeatedly appearing to his 
disciples and to hundreds of other witnesses, did 
he say unto them, "All power is given unto me 
in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and 
disciple all nations, baptizing them in the name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holv 



34 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

Spirit, teaching them to observe all things what- 
ever I commanded you. And behold, I am with 
you alway, even unto the end of the world. " — 
[Revised Version. ) Henceforth we find this church 
actively engaged in preaching the gospel and ad- 
ministering the ordinances of God's house. 

From the tragic hour of our Lord's sufferings 
until his ascension, we find the little church in a 
state of expectancy and confusion. They had been 
directed to tarry in Jerusalem until they were 
endowed with power from on high. Acts 1:4,8. 
During this time the disciples had indisputable 
evidence of the divinity of their Master. He had 
appeared unto them repeatedly, and had been seen 
by more than five hundred brethren at one time. 
1st Cor. 15:6. The disciples had talked with 
him, handled him and eaten with him. He led 
them out from the city as far as Bethany, and 
after receiving his blessing, and in the presence 
of a large multitude, they witnessed his ascension. 
The Lord had risen indeed, and no evidence was 
now lacking to prove to the world that he was 
indeed the Christ, the Son of God. 

After witnessing the ascension of Christ from 
the Mount of Olivet, and receiving the assurance 
from the heavenly messengers that their Lord 
would "come again in like manner as they had 
seen him ascend," the disciples immediately as- 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 35 

sembled themselves "in an upper room." Luke 
speaks of this as the abiding place of the disciples. 
Acts 1:13. Jameson, Fausset and Brown under- 
stand it to mean their place of rendezvous, and 
not their place of lodgment. There is no reason 
to believe that they had abandoned their families 
and taken up their lodgment here. It was evi- 
dently the place were the eleven had been accus- 
tomed to assemble themselves — the meeting place 
of the church. Certain it is they were all present 
on this occasion, and "continued with one accord 
in prayer with the women and Mary, the mother 
of Jesus, and with his brethren." 

Here we find the church actively engaged in 
work. Heretofore the executive authority be- 
longed alone to the Master, and the church had 
been passive. Now, as Christ's executive, it be- 
comes active and proceeds to carry out the com- 
mission. At this meeting of the church there 
were added to the original eleven about one hun- 
dred and nine members. Among those honored 
names were the names of Mary, the mother of 
Jesus, and his brothers, also those of Joseph 
Justus and Matthias. When these names had 
been enrolled, for " the number of names together 
were about one hundred and twenty," (Acts 1:15,) 
Peter stood up in their midst and instructed the 
church with reference to their duty in selecting a 



36 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

successor to Judas. Two members, Joseph Justus 
and Matthias, were put in nomination, and the 
vote was then taken which resulted in the election 
of Matthias, "and he was numbered with the 
eleven apostles." — Acts 1:26. 

This is the first record we have of the church 
meeting together for the purpose of transacting 
business. Here we find it receiving members and 
electing an officer. It is worthy of special men- 
tion, just here, that the church was capable of 
selecting an apostle, which shows the subordinate 
position of that office. On the well recognized 
principle that the greater always includes the less, 
it follows that all church officers, including the 
bishops or pastors, are subject to the disciplinary 
powers of the churches. 

It is but fair to suppose that Mary, the mother 
of Jesus, and her other sons, became connected 
with the church at this time, for they are expressly 
mentioned as having been present at the first 
meeting after the ascension of our Lord. Acts 1:14. 
While frequent mention is made of them by the 
evangelists, this is the first mention made of their 
meeting with the twelve in their congregated ca- 
pacity. All these events transpired before the day 
of Pentecost. So we have found a church, actively 
engaged at work, electing an officer, receiving 
and enrolling members all before this day. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 37 

The next ingathering, of which we have any 
account, to this primitive church was on the day 
of Pentecost. On this occasion the disciples 
' ' were all of one accord in one place, and were all 
filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak 
with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utter- 
ance." Peter is again spokesman, and standing 
up he expounded the Scriptures to the people, and 
preached unto them repentance and faith 'in that 
same Jesus whom they had crucified and slain.' 
When the people heard him many of them be- 
lieved, "and they that gladly received the word 
were baptized." 

It is frequently stated that three thousand were 
baptized on the day of Pentecost. This statement 
is entirely gratuitous. That this number could 
have been baptized in one day is easily proven. 
That there were, is without any scriptural evidence. 
Nor do I believe that they were added without 
having previously been baptized. I do not think 
that any one maintains that correct church rela- 
tions can properly be maintained without baptism. 
There may not have been the half of three thou- 
sand baptized on this day. Only as many as 
gladly received the word were baptized. John, 
the harbinger, had baptized large numbers who 
came to him and professed faith in the coming 
Christ. Jesus himself "made and baptized more 



38 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

disciples than John, though Jesus himself baptized 
not, but his disciples." — John 4:1,2. Evidently 
these baptized disciples, except the one hundred 
and twenty, had up to this time no church rela- 
tionship. It is but fair and reasonable to sup- 
pose that if this was required of the one hundred 
and twenty, that it was required of all the disci- 
ples. Therefore, as many of those previously 
baptized disciples as were present were added to 
the church on that day, thus swelling the number 
to about three thousand, including those who had 
gladly received the word and were baptized.* 
This is but a natural conclusion, such as we would 
arrive at if reasoning upon such a meeting at the 
present day, and becomes the more conclusive, if 
possible, when we read further on that ' ' the Lord 
added to the church daily such as were saved." 
(Revised Version.} The Scriptures no where 
justify a Christian in living outside of proper 
church relations, and so I take it that all the bap- 
tized disciples at this time held membership in the 
Church at Jerusalem. 

Note. — Since writing the above I find the same view of 
the Pentecostal baptisms advanced by Hinton in his His- 
tory of Baptism, page 92. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 3D 



CHAPTER V. 

Establishment of other churches. Persecutions. Paul's 
conversion. Paul and Barnabas engage in Mis- 
sionary ivork. Other churches planted. Paul put 
to death by order of Nero. Services in the Temple 
cease. Church at Smyrna. Polycarp pastor. 
Church at Lyons. Ancient use of the term bishop. 
Independence of the churches. Persecutions. Church 
at Carthage. Montanists. Novatians. Donatists. 
Persecutions. Faith of the Montanists, Novations 
and Donatists. Anabaptists. 

A. D. 29. 

JftFTER the day of Pentecost the disciples went 
£®\ everywhere gladly preaching the word, while 
great success attended their ministry. In a very 
short time a second church was planted at Samaria, 
and soon another at Antioch. Persecutions were 
now inflicted upon the Christians everywhere, and 
Saul was on his way to Damascus, with authority to 
arrest men and women, and breathing out threaten - 
ings and slaughter against all Christians, when he 
was suddenly stricken down and made to cry out 
for mercy. Being converted to the Christian 
faith, he attached himself to the church at Antioch. 
Paul became at once enthused with the spirit of 
missions, and the church at Antioch, by direct 
command of God, set him and Barnabas apart to 
this work. They immediately set out to bear 



40 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

hence the gospel of Christ to the regions beyond. 
During this journey they visited Lystra, where 
Timothy was converted. Soon churches were 
planted at Philippi, Corinth, Ephesus, Thessa- 
lonica, Colosse, Rome and Gallacia. These 
churches were all modeled after the church at 
Jerusalem, being : 

First. Independent in their organic relations, 
one from another. 

Second. They acknowledged no head but Christ, 
and owned no Lawgiver but him. 

Third. The members of these churches were 
baptized believers. 

Fourth. They administered baptism by immer- 
sion only. 

Fifth. They denied sacramental salvation. 

Sixth. They held to equality of membership. 

Seventh. They held to freedom of conscience 
and to religious liberty. 

These principles were so repugnant to the wishes 
of the rulers, and to those who occupied high 
places, that they stirred up the common people 
against the disciples of Christ, and many of them 
were put to death, and others were scattered 
abroad, but everywhere they went they continued 
to preach the word. 

Thus at this early period in the history of the 
churches, "the blood of the martyrs became the 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 41 

seed of the church," and every effort to stamp out 
the fires of Christianity, served only to rekindle 
them. Nero was at this time, A. D. 66, emperor 
of Home, and by his orders the Apostle Paul was 
put to death. He, who had at one time been so 
bitter in his denunciations of Christianity, after a 
long life of active labor in the service of Christ, 
sealed his testimony with his blood. 

The services in the Temple, in Jerusalem, had 
all this time gone on uninterrupted, but shortly 
after this time the city was besieged by Titus, in 
command of the Roman soldiers, in their war with 
the Jews, and so great was the destruction of lives 
in the city from pestilence and famine that there 
was no proper person, says Jones, the historian, 
to offer the sacrifices, and on the 17th day of July, 
A. D. TO, the sacrifices ceased. It has been esti- 
mated that the Jews lost one million five hundred 
thousand lives during this war. 

We find that Polycarp became the pastor of the 
church at Smyrna, in A. D. 81. This was just 
fourteen years before the apostle John was ban- 
ished to the Isle of Patmos, which occurred in 
A. D. 95. Polycarp had received his instruction 
from this apostle, who was one of the immediate 
disciples of Christ, and continued as pastor of this 
single church for a period of eighty-five years, or 
down to A. D. 166, when hoary with age, but strong 



42 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

in faith, this soldier of the cross was burned alive 
for his loyalty to Christ. Justin Martyr and others 
were beheaded the same year. This was under 
the reign of Marcus Aurelius Antonius, emperor 
of Rome. Terrible persecutions were visited upon 
Christians at this time, but the tide of Christianity 
swept on, for behind it was the hand of Him who 
had said the gates of hell should not prevail 
against his church. 

In A. D. 200, Irenseus suffered martyrdom at 
the hands of the opposers of Christianity. He 
was at this time pastor, or bishop, of the church 
at Lyons, France, (then Gallia). The terms bishop 
and pastor at that time signified the same thing. 
A bishop was pastor of a single church, or had 
the oversight of a single congregation, and was in 
every way amenable to the church and subject 
alike, with the private members, to its discipline. 
Mosheim, vol. 1, page 39, says : 

4 ' Let none, however, confound the bishops of 
this primitive and golden period of the church 
with those of whom we read in the following ages ; 
for though they were both distinguished by the 
same name, yet they differed in many respects. 
A bishop during the first and second century was 
a person who had the care of one Christian as- 
sembly, which at that time was, generally speak- 
ing, small enough to be contained in a private 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 43 

house. In this assembly he acted not so much 
with the authority of a master, as with the zeal 
and diligence of a faithful servant. ' ' 

Mosheim's testimony to the independence of 
the churches, and the subordinate office of bishop, 
during the first two centuries, is highly credible, 
inasmuch as he was a Lutheran and a historian of 
high reputation. 

Robinson, in his Ecclesiastical Researches, saysr 
4 'During the first three centuries, congregations 
all over the East subsisted in separate, independ- 
ent bodies, unsupported by government, and con- 
sequently without any secular power over one 
another. All this time, they were baptized [Bap- 
tist] churches, and though all the Fathers of the 
first four ages down to Jerome (A. D. 370) were 
of Greece, Syria and Africa, and though they give 
great numbers of histories of the baptism of adults, 
yet there is not one record of the baptism of a 
child till the year 370."- v 

The testimony of these historians establishes 
three important facts. 1. The independence of 
the churches. 2. The subordinate character of 
the bishops or pastors. 3. The baptism of be- 
lievers, as opposed to infant baptism. 

In the beginning of the second century Pliny, 
who was governor of Bithynia, put Christians to 
death merely on the ground of their professing 

*Robinsorrs Ecclesiastical Researches, page 55. 



4:4: COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

Christianity. He simply asked the question, ' 'Are 
you a Christian ? ' ' and if they avowed it, he asked 
the question a second and a third time, threaten- 
ing them with punishment, when, if they persisted, 
he immediately ordered their execution.* Trajan 
was at this time emperor of Rome, and by his 
orders Ignatius, who was pastor at Antioch, was 
sent to Rome and exposed to the fury of the wild 
beasts in the theatre and by them devoured. 
About the same time, A. D. 115, Simon, after 
repeated scourgings, was crucified at the advanced 
age of one hundred and twenty years. f This was 
a fulfillment of the words of Christ addressed to 
Peter, ' ' When thou wast young, thou girdest thy- 
self, and walkdest whither thou wouldest ; but 
when thou shalt be old thou shalt stretch forth 
thy hands and another shall gird thee, and carry 
thee whither thou wouldest not." — John 21:18. 

We have found the church at Smyrna in exis- 
tence at Polycarp's death, A.D. 166, and have 
no means of knowing anything about the further 
history of this church, but find a church in exis- 
tence at Lyons, A. D. 180, under the pastoral 
care of Irenaeus, a Greek, who, before he 
accepted the pastorate at Lyons, had lived at 
Smyrna, and had enjoyed the religious instruc- 
tions of Polycarp, who himself had been a disci- 

• Jones' Church History, page 98. 
'Ibid, page 103. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 45 

pie of John.* He continued to be the pastor of 
this church until A. D. 200, when he suffered 
martyrdom. Only a little later than this, or 
about A. D. 200, or 215, at the latest, we find a 
church in existence at Carthage, Africa, which 
continued to exist, as a single church, for a period 
of two hundred years, or until A. D. 400. 

The ancient city of Carthage was situated on 
the sea-coast, near the present site of Tunic, and 
at the nearest point to Italy. This part of 
Africa has always been settled by white people. 
Those who embraced the faith as held by this 
church, at Carthage, were known by the name 
Montcmists, from Montanus, who was a leader 
among them, and who had inveighed against the 
corruptions which had already begun to creep 
into the churches. Indeed, Paul, in his time, 
declared "the mystery of iniquity doth already 
work," (II. Thess. 2:7,) and we have no means of 
knowing how corrupt a church may become, 
without losing its identity as a scriptural church. 
We know the church at Corinth became very 
irregular, desecrating the Lord's Supper, yet it 
was regarded by the apostle as a true church, 
though in error. 

So at this time Montanus had inveighed against 
some of the corruptions which existed in his day, 
and through his instrumentality a church was 

*Orchard's Baptist History, page 25. 



4:6 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

established at Carthage. Agrippinus was the 
first pastor of this church, and was aided in his 
labors by Tertullian, who had seceded from the 
Catholic church at Carthage, and had united with 
the Montanists on the ground of the purity of 
their communion.' 55 ' Tertullian had complained 
that access to membership in the church was too 
readily gained, and that baptism was too hastily 
administered. When inquired of by a rich lady 
whether infants might be baptized on condition 
that they asked it, he replied that baptism ought 
not to be administered too hastily. 

A. D. 200. fWhen referred to the cases of 
the Eunuch and Paul, he declared that these were 
exceptional cases, and said that, u Such as un- 
derstand the importance of baptism are more 
afraid of presumption than procrastination, and 
faith alone saves the soul." 

The looseness of doctrine touching baptism, 
and lack of discipline, finally forced Tertullian 
out of the dominant party which afterwards be- 
came known as the Catholic church, and he united 
with the Montanists' church at Carthage, "which 
admitted members by examination and baptism, 
but all such as joined the Montanists from other 
communities were re-baptized. "J For this rea- 
son the Montanists were sometimes called Ana- 
orchard's Bap. Hist, p. 115. flbid, pp. 69, 70. 
^Orchard's Bap. Hist., p. 115. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST BTSTOKY. 4:7 

baptists. So at this early period in the history 
of Christianity we find churches of different faith 
existing in the same cities. 

A. D. 251. In A. D. 251, we find Novatian 
leaves the dominant party, on account of its cor- 
rupt doctrine and practice, and was ordained 
pastor of a church in the city of Kome. Nova- 
tian had been baptized by pouring, but so differ- 
ent from the pouring administered for baptism at 
the present day, that no one thinks of giving him 
as an example. He was sick, and supposing that 
he was about to die, he greatly desired to be 
baptized. Water was poured around him until 
he was completely covered, and this was recog- 
nized as baptism, inasmuch as he could not be 
immersed in the usual way.* It had, at least, 
the merit of representing a burial. 

There were now two opposing parties in Rome, 
each claiming to be the true church. The domi- 
nant party called themselves the Catholic church, 
and denominated the other the Paterines. The 
Faterines were sometimes called the Church of 
the Martyrs. 

Novatian, who was their pastor, enforced such 
strict discipline by his teaching, which was so 
rigidly adhered to by his church, that they were 
often called Puritans, or Cathari, the pure. 
Sometimes they were called Novatians, from the 
*Baptist Short Method, p. 76. 



48 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

name of their pastor, and this appellation con- 
tinued to be applied to them long after his death. 

A. D. 330. All over Italy these people were 
known by the name Paterines, and in A. D. 330. 
Italy was said to be "full of them."* 

The Novatians had no fellowship with the 
Catholics, and rebaptized all who came to them 
from that party. They regarded the Catholics 
as having abandoned the true faith and were no 
longer a true church. 

George Waddington, in speaking of the Nova- 
tians, calls them "Sectaries," as quoted by Dr. 
Ray, and says : "And these rigid principles which 
had characterized and sanctified the church in the 
first century, were abandoned to the profession of 
schismatic Sectaries in the third." Mr. Ray very 
correctly remarks on this testimony as follows : 

"This important testimony of George Wad- 
dington, the learned Episcopal historian, estab- 
lishes two important points. 

1. That the Novatians, called Sectaries by 
their enemies, preserved those rigid principles 

WHICH HAD CHARACTERIZED AND SANCTIFIED THE 
CHURCH IN THE FIRST CENTURY. 

2. That the Catholic, or orthodox party 'aban- 
doned THESE PRINCIPLES TO THE PROFESSION OF 

Schismatic Sectaries in the third' century. f" 

-Orchard's Bap. Hist,, p. 142. 

tRay's Baptist Succession, pp. 1G0, 167. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 4:9 

A. D. 306. As early as A. D. 306 wide spread 
dissensions begun to exist among Christians 
throughout the Roman empire, extending not 
only through Numidia, but throughout the 
provinces of Africa. One party sustaining the 
civil authorities, and the other resisting their en- 
croachments upon religious liberty. It was at 
this time that Donatus came to the front, as a 
great leader of the dissenting party, and a class 
of Christians in Northern Africa, which espoused 
his views, were called Donatists. They held to 
the same doctrines and practices which distin- 
guished the Montanists. They were the same 
people in faith and practice, and were known by 
the name, Donatists, for a period of four hundred 
and fifty years, or down to A. D. 756. Some- 
times they were denominated Puritans, as the 
Novatians were, and for the same reason. 
Donatus was elected bishop, or pastor, at Carthage 
in A. D. 306, and was the firmest supporter of 
his party. This fact alone identifies the Donatists 
with the Montanists. 

A. D. 390. There were in A. D. 390, as 
many as four hundred separate congregations of 
Donatists. These were each presided over by a 
single bishop or pastor.* These terms at that 
time signified the same office. The Donatists, 
like the Montanists and Novatians, rebaptized all 

^Orchard's Bapt. Hist., pp. 92, 93. 



50 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

who came over to them from the Catholic party, 
and hence were called Anabaptists. 

A. D. 404. The Catholics had long before 
this become the dominant party, and backed by 
State and municipal authority, continually perse- 
cuted the true faith, and left no means unused to 
propagate their own doctrines. So many Catho- 
lics had abandoned that faith and united with the 
Donatists or Montanists, that Emperor Honorius, 
in 404, ordered them to return to the Catholic 
church, or be fined, at the same time banishing 
the pastors of the refractory. These mild meas- 
ures failing to have the desired effect, more 
severe measures were adopted. The increased 
numbers of the Donatists, however, prevented 
the Catholics from using the extreme measures 
which were afterwards used for their suppression. 
Mr. Orchard says of them : 

"The Donatists had hitherto maintained them- 
selves in good reputation, and their affairs were 
in good state. The Catholics having Augustine 
as their head, with other zealous adjutors exerted 
every means for their suppression ; but Ending 
their preaching and writing effected very little 
alteration, they in 404, sent a deputation to the 
emperor, Honorius, requesting him to enforce 
those edicts made in , previous reigns against the 
Donatists. — The emperor first imposed a fine on 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 51 

■all those who refused to return to the bosom of 
the church, banishing the pastors of the refrac- 
tory. The year following severe measures were 
adopted, but the magistrates were remiss in their 
execution. This occasioned a council at Carthage, 
which sent a deputation to the emperor, soliciting 
the appointment of special officers to execute his 
edicts with vigor. Though weakened by these 
measures the Puritans were yet quite strong."* 

A. D. 412. In A. D. 412, we find the Donat- 
ists persecuted for rebaptizing. The Catholics 
well knew that a refusal to recognize their bap- 
tisms as scriptural was equivalent to a declaration 
.tli at their churches were not scriptural churches. 
' ' The Catholics found by experience that the 
means hitherto used had been ineffectual against 
the Donatists. They now prevailed on Honorius 
and Theodosius, emperors of the east and west, to 
issue an edict, decreeing, ' That the person rebap- 
tizing and the person rebaptized, should be punished 
with deaths "f 

The Novatians, who, as we have already seen, 
held to the same doctrines and were identically 
the same people as the Donatists, were suffering 
severe persecutions during the same year. Mr. 
Orchard says: "In 412, Cyril was ordained 
bishop of Alexandria. One of his first acts was 

Orchard's Bap. Hist., pp. 92, 93. 
tlbid., p. 94. 



52 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

to shut up all the churches of the ISovatians, and 
strip them of everything of value."* 

The Donatists not only rebaptized all persons 
who came over to their faith from the Catholics, 
but persistently refused to baptize children, ' ' con- 
trary to the practice of the Catholic church." 
This opposition to infant baptism greatly incensed 
the Catholics. An assembly (since called a coun- 
cil), was convened at Mela, in Numidia, at which 
Augustine presided, with ninety-two ministers 
present. 

A. D. 415. At this Catholic council, in the year 
415, the following declaration was made: "We 
will that whoever denies that little children by 
baptism are freed from perdition and eternally 
saved, that they be accursed, "f Had the Catho- 
lics been able to produce scriptural evidence in 
support of infant baptism, their bitter denuncia- 
tions would not have been needed. 

All these people known by the names of Mon- 
tanists, Novatians and Donatists, were distin- 
guished by the following characteristics which 
marked them as Baptists : 

First. Their churches were local, independent 
bodies. 

Second. The terms bishop, and pastor, signified i 
with them, the same office, and they were the ser- 
vants of the churches. 

Orchard's Bap. Hist., p. 94. flbid, p. 98. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 53 

Third. They admitted none to their member- 
ship but baptized believers. 

Fourth. They invariably baptized by immersion. 

Fifth. They opposed the doctrine of baptismal 
salvation. 

Orchard says of these people : "The Novatians 
and Donatists very nearly resembled each other 
in doctrine and discipline ; indeed they are charged 
by Crispin, a French historian, with holding to- 
gether in the following things : First, For purity 
of church members, by asserting that none ought 
to be admitted into the church but such as are 
visibly true believers and real saints ; Secondly, 
For purity of church discipline ; Thirdly, For the 
independency of each church; and, Fourthly, They 
baptized again those whose first baptism they had 
reason to doubt. They were consequently termed 
Rebaptizers or Anabaptists. Osiander says, our 
modern Anabaptists were the same with Donatists 
of old. Fuller, the English church historian, 
asserts, that the Baptists in England, in his days, 
were the Donatists new dipped. "* 

We have now traced the true churches of Christ 
during the first four centuries, by different names, 
it is true, but holding to the same principles and 
doctrines. Indeed we find them continuing for 
three hundred years longer, or until A. D. 750, 
by the single name of Donatists. The church at 
■•Orchard's Bap. Hist., p. 87. 



54 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

Smyrna continued certainly from A. D. 81 to- 
A. D. 166, for Polycarp was pastor of this church 
during this whole period of time. Nor have we 
any reason to believe that the church became ex- 
tinct at the death of their pastor in 166. Then 
we have the church at Lyons, with Irenseus pas- 
tor, in A. D. 180, which he continued to serve 
until A. D. 200. In A. D. 200 or 215, we find 
the church at Carthage which continued to exist, 
as a single church, for a period of two hundred 
years. These people were called Montanists. 
Nearly one hundred years before this time, we 
have found a people called Donatists, beginning 
about A. D. 306, and continuing for a period of 
four hundred and fifty years, or until A. D. 756. 
All this time the same people were called by dif- 
ferent names, in different localities, as Novatians, 
Paterines, Puritans, Cathari, or the pure, and 
Church of the Martyrs. 

We will now go back over the same period of 
time to note the rise of heresies and the persecu- 
tions to which the true churches were subjected, 
for the faith of the Gospel of Christ. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 55 



CHAPTER VI. 
HERESIES AKD PERSECUTIONS. 

From A. D. 34 to A. D. 426. 

Rise of heresies. Persecutions at Lyons. Baptis- 
mal regeneration with its train of evils. Rise 
of infant baptism. Boy bishops and presbyters. 
First infant baptized, on record. Severe perse- 
cution of Christians tender Dioclesian. Con- 
stantine comes to the throne. Council of Nice. 
More persecutions. Scriptures no longer a rule 
of faith with Catholics. Synods. Constantine 
moves the seat of government to Byzantium. 
Church and State united. Christianity blended 
with paganism. The true witnesses retire to the 
valleys of Piedmont. 

HERESIES and corruptions begun to creep 
into the churches very early in their history. 
Even during the time of the apostles there was a 
strong tendency to introduce Jewish rites into the 
Christian churches, and if the apostles had not 
learned that "eternal vigilance is the price of 
liberty," they did learn that the most untiring 
vigilance was necessary to preserve the churches 
in purity of doctrine and discipline. Man natur- 
ally desires a ritualistic service and would rather 
worship the seen than the unseen. 

Very early in the first century some churches 
were found drifting away from the simple prin- 



56 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

ciples which governed and controlled the true 
churches of Christ ; the}' became corrupt in doc- 
trine, and introduced innovations and false prac- 
tices into their worship. It may be that the corrupt 
churches, by reason of their want of spirituality 
and looseness of their discipline, increased more 
rapidly in membership than the true churches ; or 
it may be because it is against the principles of a 
pure Christianity to resist evil with physical force, 
which gave the corrupt party the power over the 
purer churches. We soon find, however^ that 
Christians not only suffered at the hands of the 
opposers of Christianity, but suffered even more 
severely at the hands of professed Christians. 

Some of the churches soon lost their independ- 
ent character, and blending their organizations 
together, or perhaps striving to make one organi- 
zation control a larger area of territory, they com- 
bined with the secular powers to stamp out such 
as would not submit to their will. 

We thus see the wisdom of God in establishing 
the independent form of church government. 
When a church became corrupt, it simply dropped 
out of line, or coalesced with some other corrupt 
body, and was no longer regarded as a true church, 
and other independent churches were not cor- 
rupted by its doctrines. On the other hand, when 
the independency of the churches was lost sight of 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 57 

by some, and became Episcopal or Presbyterian 
in their form of government, an error in one part 
corrupted the whole body. 

A. D. 202. The church at Jerusalem was soon 
scattered abroad, but everywhere the scattered 
disciples preached the word. For every martyred 
spirit there rose up a witness for Christ. Like 
scattered sparks from a fire, each one rekindled a 
flame, until Christianity had spread itself all over 
the East. As it gradually became popular, there 
were found two parties, one the opposing and the 
other the opposed. Only the true churches suf- 
fered. Orchard says of the church at Lyons, 
France, that as early as 202, this church suffered 
such severe persecutions that rivers were colored 
with human blood. "Severus, in 202, treated the 
Christians of this city with the greatest cruelty. 
Such was the excess of his barbarity, that rivers 
were colored with human blood, and the public 
places of the city were filled with the dead bodies 
of the professors. It is recorded of this church, 
that since its formation it has been watered with 
the blood of twenty thousand martyrs."* 

A. D. 250. The dogma of baptismal regenera- 
tion was one of the earliest, if not the first, error 
which infected Christianity and this gave rise to 
infant baptism. We only know that infant bap- 

*Orchard's Baptist History, page 163. 



58 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

tism was practiced as early as A. D. 250, from the 
opposition which rose against it at that time. The 
evidence shows, however, that what was known 
as infant baptism at this time, was the baptism of 
children and not unconscious infants. This prac- 
tice of the baptism of young children arose in 
Africa, among the corrupt party from which Ter- 
tullian withdrew. It was not observed by the 
stricter sect, and is given as one reason why he 
withdrew from the Catholic party. A great many 
infants were employed, we are told, as readers in 
in the churches, in Carthage and Alexandria. The 
term, infant, was applied to any one who was a 
minor. So infants were sometimes made bishops 
and presbyters, when spiritual qualifications were 
no longer regarded as essential to these offices. 
Later, boys of ten or twelve years old were made 
bishops. 

When saving efficacy was attached to baptism, 
the question was asked, "What becomes of the 
unbaptized ' ' ? The answer was, c ' None are saved 
without baptism." For penitents, martyrs, and 
others dying unbaptized, a purgatory was pro- 
vided.* The idea that baptism had saving efficacy 
gave rise to the question asked by Quintilla, of 
Tertullian, whether infants might be baptized on 
condition that they 1 1 asked to be baptized, and pro- 
duce sponsors "?f He replied, "That baptism 

^Orchard's Bap. Hist,, p. 69. fldem. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 59 

ought not to be administered rashly, the adminis- 
trators of it know. * * * What necessity is 
there to expose sponsors to danger? Death may 
incapacitate them for fulfilling their engagements,, 
or bad dispositions may defeat all their endeavors. 
* * * Such as understand the importance of 
baptism, are more afraid of presumption than 
procrastination, and faith alone saves the soul.""^ 
A. D. 250. Thus the dogma of baptismal re- 
generation gave rise to infant baptism, and to the 
provision of a purgatory, or middle place, for 
penitents and martyrs, dying unbaptized. This 
idea of the existence of a purgatory gave rise to 
the offering of prayers for the dead, the offering 
of indulgences, and the saying of masses. So we 
see that one evil begets another, and one encroach- 
ment upon the truth opens the way for another,, 
until the flood gates of superstition are thrown 
wide open. So it was in the middle of the third 
century when there were two classes of churches^ 
one calling itself the Catholic, and the others de- 
nominated by the dominant party as the Paterines, 

^Orchard's Bap. Hist., p. 71. 

Note.— Tertullian was a lawyer and not a bishop, or 
elder, and Orchard says, "This is plainly the opinion 
of a lawyer on the delicate situation of sponsors under a 
heathen government. Minors were not of age till twenty- 
fi ye. The law had taken no cognizance of baptism, and 
if persecutions should commence, minors and sponsors 
would be involved in sufferings for encouraging a com- 
munity not incorporated by law." 



GO COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

or Sufferers. Infant baptism had already been 
introduced, as a consequent of the doctrine of 
baptismal regeneration, and a purgatory was pro- 
vided for the unbaptized. " At this time, A. D. 
250," says Orchard, "many of the old churches 
were reduced to a pitiable state ; while Italy was 
full of dissenters, who never were in communion 
with Rome."'' 4 * 

While it is evident that infant baptism was 
practiced by the Catholics as early as the middle 
of the third century, since we find opposition to 
it at this time, yet there is not a single case of 
infant baptism on record until the year 370. Mr. 
Robinson, in his Ecclesiastical Researches, p. 55, 
says : "During the first three centuries Christian 
congregations all over the East subsisted in sepa- 
rate independent bodies, unsupported by govern- 
ment, and consequently without any secular power 
over one another. All this time they were bap- 
tized [Baptist] churches, and though all the fathers 
of the first four ages, down to Jerome, were of 
Oreece, Syria, and Africa, and though they give 
great numbers of histories of the baptism of 
adults, yet there is not one record of the baptism 
of a child till the year 370, when Galates, the 
dying son of the emperor, Yalens, was baptized, 
by order of a monarch who swore he would not be 
contradicted." Had it been the custom of the 

■ Orchard's Bap. History, p. 32. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 61 

early churches to baptize infants, there would most 
certainly have been some recorded instances be- 
fore this time. 

A. D. 300. About the close of the third cen- 
tury, Dioclesian, who was one of the Roman em- 
perors, was prevailed upon by the pagan priests 
to inflict the most severe punishment upon Chris- 
tians, in order to force them to renounce Chris- 
tianity, and sacrifice to heathen gods. To this 
end he ordered all their places of worship to be 
pulled down, their books and writings to be 
burned, and they themselves to be deprived of all 
civil rights and privileges. Failing with these 
means to accomplish his purpose, he ordered all 
pastors and bishops to be imprisoned. All sorts 
of torments were then employed, which lasted ten 
years, and it has been estimated that seventeen 
thousand Christians were put to death in one 
month, one hundred and fifty thousand died from 
violence in Egypt alone, and that five times that 
number, or seven hundred and fifty thousand, lost 
their lives through the fatigues of banishment, or 
in the public mines to which they were con- 
demned.* 

A. D. 306. In A. D. 306, Constantine the 
Great became emperor of the Roman empire. Con- 
stantine was a heathen when he came to the throne, 

*Jones' Church History, p. 135. 



62 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

but soon afterwards embraced Christianity, and 
an entire change occurred in the Christian world. 
Persecutions ceased for a time and he gave his 
influence to the propagation of Christianity. This 
period of rest, however, was of short duration, 
for he had allied himself with the Catholic church, 
which was the dominant party. Under Constan- 
tine's directions the first general council of Catho- 
lics was convened at Nice, in the year 325. As 
soon as their decrees and canons were drawn up 
they were sent to Sylvester, who was then bishop 
of Rome. These decrees were afterwards con- 
firmed in these words: u We confirm with our 
mouth, that which has been decreed at Nice, a 
city of Bythinia, by three hundred and eighteen 
holy bishops, for the good of the Catholic and 
Apostolic Church, mother of the faithful. We 
anathematize all those who shall dare to contra- 
dict the decrees of the great and holy council, 
which was assembled at Nice, in the presence of 
that most pious and venerable prince, the emperor, 
Constantine. And to this all the bishops an- 
swered, 'We consent to it.' "* 

Through the influence now brought to bear upon 
Constantine, he instituted a series of persecutions 
against the dissenting churches, and denounced 
them as "heretics," enemies of the truth, and 

*Jones' Church History, p. 145. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 63 

destructive counsellors. He ordered all their 
books to be burned, that there might remain to 
posterity no vestige of their doctrine. Such were 
the trials through which the martyr churches were 
required to pass, in order that the brightness of 
their glory might shine with undimmed splendor 
through the centuries to come. 

The Scriptures, from this time, were no longer 
the standard of Christian faith with the dominant 
party. Assemblies were called synods, and bishops 
fared sumptuously, so much so that a heathen 
prelate said, ' s Make me a bishop of Rome, and I 
will be a Christian too."* 

A. D. 326. In A. D. 326, Constantine moved 
the seat of government from Rome to Byzantium, 
and called it Constantinople. He ordered fine 
churches to be built, filled them with expensive 
pictures and images, and ordered all persons to 
conform to his creed. Thus under him Chris- 
tianity was blended with paganism. f He now 
united church and State, and Catholicism, with 
the name of Christianity, and clothed with its 
habiliments, was launched upon the world, but 
with more of heathenism than Christianity. More 
of pagan ceremonies than religious truth. More of 
bitterness and hatred than love of Christ. A form 
of Godliness, but denying the power thereof. 

* Jones' Church History, p. 150. 
fOrchard's Bap. Hist., pp. 119-121. 



64 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

At this time the Novatians, Paterines, Puritans, 
Montanists, and Donatists, battling for the prin- 
ciples of eternal truth, and holding to the pure 
word of God, were giving up their lives as wit- 
nesses, or retiring before their advancing foes into 
the sequestered valleys of Piedmont, where they 
were subsequently known as Waldenses. 



COMPENDIUM OK BAPTIST HISTORY. 65 

CHAPTEK VII. 
WALDENSEAN PERIOD— 1260 Years. 

"And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she 
hath a place prepared of God that they should feed her 
there a thousand two hundred and three score days. And 
to the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that 
she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where 
she is nourished for a time, times, and a half time, from 
the face of the serpent."— Rev. 12:6,14. 

"And when they shall have finished their testimony, 
the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall 
make war against them and shall overcome them, and 
kill them."— Rev. 11:7. 

WE now enter upon the wilderness period of the 
church, or what is more frequently called the 
Waldensean period. It is admitted that the true 
church is represented by the woman who fled into 
the wilderness and was nourished there for "a 
time, times and a half time." 

A time appears to stand for a year ; times, for 
two years, and a half time for half a year. A 
time, times, and a half time would, therefore, 
represent three and a half years. These three and 
a half prophetic years, says Mr. Ray, represent 
1260 years of time by our computation. The cor- 
rectness of this interpretation appears in the fact 
that a day is made, in the Scriptures, to represent 



66 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

a year. A thousand two hundred and three score 
days, therefore, represent 1260 years, which is 
the wilderness period of the church. 

We are told that when the witnesses shall have 
finished their testimony the beast shall kill them. 
It will be seen in the further development of this 
history that the Waldenses were wholly extermi- 
nated from the valleys of Piedmont, whither they 
had fled for the protection of their lives, and the 
few who escaped butchery were incarcerated in 
prison, their property confiscated, and their chil- 
dren disposed among Catholics. This occurred in 
1686. Counting back from that period, 1260 
years, brings us to A. D. 406, as the beginning 
of the Waldensean period. During this period of 
1260 years the Novatians, Montanists, Donatists, 
and indeed all Christians of whatever name, who 
held to the same principles which these Christians 
held, were known by the common name of Wal- 
denses. This was the obscure, or Wilderness 
period of the churches, and much of their history 
is wholly unknown. They were persecuted on 
every hand by the Catholics who were their com- 
mon foe, and there can be no doubt that this 
church was the great Whore, the Serpent and the 
Beast, which came up out of the bottomless pit, to 
make war upon the true witnesses and kill them. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 67 

There is a range of mountains, the highest in 
till of Europe, extending from the Adriatic to the 
Mediterranean seas, and separating Italy from 
France, Switzerland and Germany. Piedmont 
was the name given to the valleys situated at the 
foot of these mountains. Pede, foot, and montium, 
mountains. Hence the word Piedmont, and also 
the word Piedmontese, which signified dwellers at 
the foot of the mountains. The class of Christians, 
called Waldenses, derived their name from the 
fact that they inhabited those valleys. In France, 
these people were called Vaudois (vaux) ; in Lom- 
bardy, ecclesiastical writers named them Val- 
demes} simply from their living in valleys. "They 
call themselves Vcddenses, because they abide in 
the valley of tears. "* 

Orchard says the Waldensean faith was held by 
the inhabitants of these valleys, as early as in the 
{lays of Constantine the Great, which was in the 
beginning of the fourth century, and when those 
severe measures eminated from the emperor, 
Honorius, against rebaptizers, the Baptists left 
the seats of opulence and power, and sought re- 
treats in the country and in the valleys of Pied- 
mont — which last place in particular — became 
their retreat from imperial oppression, f This was 

^Orchard's Bapt. Hist., p. 255. 
tlbid, p. 256. 



68 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

in A. D. 4:04. "The assumption of power by the 
Roman priesthood occasioned multitudes of pri- 
vate persons to express publicly their abhorence 
of clerical vice and intolerance, and particularly 
of the lordly ambition of the Roman pontiffs. In 
the sixth and seventh centuries, many withdrew 
from the scenes of sacerdotal oppression, ignor- 
ance and voluptuousness. These sought refuge in 
Piedmont, and were called Yaldenses ; they ab- 
horred popery."*" 

There can be no doubt that the Catholic church 
was represented by the great beast that ascended 
out of the bottomless pit ; also by the serpent, from 
which the woman fled into the Wilderness, until 
the witnesses gave their testimony and were de- 
stroyed. It must not be supposed, however, that 
all the true believers had retired to the valleys of 
Piedmont. There were witnesses to the true faith 
scattered all over Europe during the whole of the 
Waldensean period of 1260 years. They were ta 
be found in Italy, France, Spain, the different 
States of Germany, in Poland, and in North 
Africa. Their history is traced by the lighted 
fagots of the martyr's stake, and by their blood 
stained foot-prints. Everywhere, like the hunted 
fawn, were they to be found fleeing from their 
pursuers, or hiding themselves in caves and dens, 

*Orchard's Bap. Hist., p. 256. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 69 

but still preserving the principles of a pure Chris- 
tianity, and joyfully giving up their lives in de- 
fence of the same. Their books and writings were 
burned, their property was confiscated, and they 
themselves were banished from place to place, but 
everywhere they carried the torch of divine truth, 
for the principles which they held were divine and 
could not die. 



70 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

CHAPTEK VIII. 

WALDENSEAN PERIOD— Continued. 

Anabaptists, Donatists, Pa/idicians, Etc. Severe 
persecutions of Paulicians. Were tlie Paulicians 
Baptists f Some of their Characteristics. 

A. D. 500. 
JT NABAPTISTS.— In the year A. D. 500, we 
±®\ find Anabaptists existing in France and 
Spain. " In the language of councils at this period, 
Christians are denominated, either from their 
opinions, heretics, or with a view to their disci- 
pline, schismatics ; but there was one article of 
discipline in which they were all agreed, and from 
which they were frequently named, and that was 
Baptism. They held the Catholic community not 
to be the church of Christ ; they therefore rebap- 
tized such as had been baptized in that community, 
before they admitted them to their fellowship. 
For this conduct they were called Anabaptists."* 
There never has existed any fellowship between 
Baptists and Catholics, but on the contrary, an 
obstinate declaration and refusal upon the part of 
each to recognize the other as being a church of 
Christ. The Catholics have always regarded Bap- 
tists as being their only foe. 

^Orchard's Bapt. Hist., p. 167. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 71 

DONATISTS. 

While the Anabaptists were found in France 
and Spain, the Donatists continued to exist in 
Africa, and we find them suffering the most se- 
vere persecutions at the hands of the Catholics, 
from A. D. 534 to 750, when they disappeared 
from Africa and probably went to Spain or Italy. 
During all this period of more than two hun- 
dred years of persecutions, they remained a sepa- 
rate body of Christians, and possessed their own 
churches. Under the severe persecutions to which 
they were subjected, they tried every means to 
foster and advance their interests, but Pope 
Gregory made them the special objects of his in- 
vectives, and wrote to the African bishops, requir- 
ing them to exert themselves in every way to 
suppress the Donatists. These efforts to subject 
them, and to destroy their congregations, forced 
the Donatists to meet for worship in dens aDcl 
caves of the mountains, and for this reason they 
were sometimes known by the name Montenses, 
i.e. mountaineers. They so continued, says Mr. 
Orchard, until the middle of the eighth century, 
when they disappeared and carried the gospel 
light into other countries.* Africa had, through 
these instrumentalities, been blest with a pure 
gospel for five hundred and fifty years, as the 
Donatists were first found, as has already been 

Orchard's Bap. Hist., p. 101. 



72 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

shown, by the name of Montanists, at Carthage, 
in A. D. 200. Donatus became a leader among 
the Montanists in A. D. 300,* when they took his 
name which they continued to bear until A.D. 750, 
a period of four hundred and fifty years. 

The Donatists, as has already been shown (p. 
49), held to the same principles which characterize 
Baptists to-day. During all this period of time, 
Christians holding to the same faith were found in 
France, Spain and Italy. They were known by 
the names, Novatians, Faterines and Puritans, 
and sometimes by the term Cathari (6i katharoi), 
which means, the pure. Of these people it may 
be truly said, "The world was not worthy," and 
the sacrifices, toils and deprivations to which they 
were subjected, should make Baptists of the pres- 
ent day blush with shame at their own self-sacrifice 
and illiberality. 
Paulicians. 

A. D. 653. In the year 653, a sect arose in the 
East which was known by the name of Paulicians. 
There resided in the city of Mananalis, a city in 
Armenia, an obscure person by the name of Con- 
stantine, through whom the Christians, known by 
this name, originated. On one occasion Constan- 
tine entertained at his house, for several days, a 
stranger who was a deacon. This Christian man 
had been a prisoner among the Mahometans, and 

*Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 187. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 73 

was returning to his home in Syria, from whence 
he had been carried away captive. Constantine 
received from this stranger a copy of the New 
Testament, in the original language. This was 
several hundred years before the art of printing 
had been discovered, and copies of the New Testa- 
ment were not only rare but very costly.* Beside 
this the common people had been discouraged from 
reading the Bible. They said, "It is not lawful 
for us profane persons to read the sacred writings, 
but for priests only." 

Owing to this fact, and the great state of ignor- 
ance prevailing at that time, the common people 
were almost wholly unacquainted with the sacred 
writings. Constantine, however, applied himself 
most assiduously to the study of the New Testa- 
ment, and especially, says Mr. Jones, f to the 
writings of the Apostle Paul, from which he en- 
deavored to deduce a system of doctrine and wor- 
ship. The mind of Constantine having become 
enlightened by the simple truths of the Bible, he 
went to work at once to impart them to others 
around him. The result was that a considerable 
number of persons professed the same faith. In 
a short time several individuals were found, among 
this class, who were qualified for the Christian 

*N0TE. — The art of printing was discovered in the 
year 1440, at Mentz, by John Guttenberg. The first entire 
copy of the Bible was printed in the year 1530. 

t Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 202. 



74 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

ministry, and, as a result, several churches were 
established throughout Armenia and Cappadocia. 
These Christians, from having derived their prin- 
ciples of doctrine and church polity principally 
from the writings of the Apostle Paul, were called 
Paulicians. 

Constantine himself was known by the name 
Sylvanus, and others, of his fellow laborers, were 
known by the names of Timothy, Titus, etc. 

These Paulicians were at once distiguished for 
their zeal, piety and the austerity of their lives. 
The simplicity of their doctrines commended them 
to the common people, and consequently, "In a 
little time," says Orchard, " congregations were 
gathered in the provinces of Asia Minor, to the 
westward of the river Euphrates. Their opinions 
were also silently propagated in Home, Milan, and 
in the kingdom beyond the Alps, (France)." The 
same writer says the whole body of Christians in 
Armenia, came over to the Paulicians and em- 
braced their views. Their churches were modeled 
as nearly after the New Testament churches as it 
was possible, and even named for them in many 
instances. It is recorded that six of them were 
named from those to whom the Apostle Paul ad- 
dressed his epistles, viz: Kome, Corinth, Ephesus, 
Philippi, Colosse and Thessalonica. ThePaulician 
teachers were distinguished only by their Script- 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 75 

ural titles. The Paulicians were sometimes de- 
nominated Acephali, or headless, from the fact of 
their having no bishop, in the Romish sense of 
the term. 

Alarmed at the rapid growth of the Paulicians T 
the Catholic party, true to the principles of their 
faith, begun to inflict upon them the most severe 
persecutions. 

"A Greek officer, named Simeon, armed with 
legal and military authority, appeared at Coronia 
to strike the shepherd, Sylvanus, and to reclaim, 
if possible, the lost sheep. By a refinement of 
cruelty, this minister of Justice placed the unfor- 
tunate Sylvanus before a line of his disciples, who 
were commanded, as the price of their pardon, 
and as proof of their penitence, to stone to death 
their Spiritual Father. The affectionate flock 
turned aside from the impious office ; the stones 
dropped from their filial hands ; and of the whole 
number, only one executioner could be found. 
This apostate, Justus, after putting Sylvanus to 
death, gained by some means, admittance into 
communion, and again deceived and betrayed his 
unsuspecting brethren ; and as many as were 
treacherously ascertained, and could be collected, 
were massed together into an immense pile, and 
by order of the emperor consumed to ashes. 
Simeon, the officer, struck with astonishment at 



76 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

the readiness with which the Paulicians could die 
for their religion, examined their arguments, and 
became himself a convert, renounced his honors 
and fortune, and three years afterwards went to 
Cobossa, and became the successor of Constantine 
Sylvanus, a zealous preacher among the Pauli- 
cians, and at last sealed his testimony with his 
blood. To free the East from those troubles and 
commotions, said to arise from the Paulician doc- 
trines, a great number of them were transported 
[A. D. 692.] to Thrace during this century; but 
still a greater number were left in Syria and the 
adjoining countries. From Thrace these people 
passed into Bulgaria and Sclavonia, where they 
took root, and settled in their own church order. "* 

Mr. Orchard, the writer quoted above, says, that 
from the blood and ashes of the first Paulician 
victims, a succession of teachers and congregations 
arose, and the great instrument of the multiplica- 
tion of this people was their loyalty to the teach- 
ings of the New Testament. One Sergius was 
induced by a Paulician woman to read Paul's 
writings, and his attention to these epistles brought 
him to embrace their views. As a result, for 
thirty-four years he devoted himself to the preach- 
ing of the Gospel. So it has ever been, and ever 
will be, when people go to the New Testament to 
settle their doctrinal views, they become Baptists. 

"Orchard's Bap. Hist., pp. 134, 135. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 77 

But were the Paulicians Baptists ? A summary of 
their doctrinal views will answer the question. 
We have seen : 

First. They took the New Testament alone for 
their guide in doctrinal matters and church polity. 

Second. They had no bishops in the Romish 
sense, but simply pastors. 

Third. They denied that baptism and the Lord's 
Supper were sacraments. Mosheim, vol 1, p. 295, 
says, "They rejected baptism, and in a more 
especial manner, the baptism of infants, as a cere- 
mony that was in no respect essential to salvation. 
They rejected, for the same reason, the sacrament 
of the Lord's Supper." Baptists regard Baptism 
and the Lord's Supper as ordinances and not 
sacraments. 

Fourth. They opposed infant baptism. (As the 
identity of the Paulicians and Albigenses is estab- 
lished in the discussion of the Albigenses, see 
pages 81, 82, for proof of this proposition.) 

Fifth. They owned no head, or Lawgiver, but 
Christ. For this reason they were called Acephali, 
the headless. 

Sixth. Their churches were independent organi- 
zations. 

Seventh. They opposed sacraments of every 
kind, and all ritualistic service. 

These principles characterize no other people 



78 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

than the Baptists. All the information which can 
be obtained concerning the Paulicians, has been 
obtained from their enemies, who endeavored to 
put them in the worst light possible. As has 
already been noted, the Paulicians originated in 
A. D. 650. They continued by the same name 
four hundred years, or until 1050, when they were 
so scattered by persecutions that they were no 
longer known by this name. "It is however cer- 
tain," says Mosheim, vol. 1, p. 294, "from the 
most authentic testimonies, that a considerable 
number of that sect were, about the middle of this 
(the eleventh) century, settled in Lombardy, In- 
subria, and principally at Milan, and that many of 
them led a wandering life in France, Germany and 
other countries, where they captivated the esteem 
and admiration of the multitude. * * * In Italy, 
they were called Paterini and Cathari, or rather 
Gazari, which latter appellation the Germans have 
preserved with a small alteration only, which was 
proper to adapt it to the genius of their language. 
In France, they were called Albigenses, from the 
town of Albi, and Bulgarians because they came, 
from Bulgaria, and because the head of their sect 
resided in that country; as also Publicans, which 
was probably a corrupt pronunciation of Pauli- 
cians, and boni homines, or 'good men,' with 
several other titles and epithets." These names 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 79 

have characterized Baptists throughout the dark 
ages, and especially the successors of the Nova- 
tians. i 'All these branches, however, "says Jones, 
" sprang from one common stock, and were ani- 
mated by the same religious and moral prin- 
ciples."* 

* Jones' Church Hist., p. 256. 



80 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

CHAPTEK IX. 

WALDENSEAN PEKIOD— Continued. 

Albigenses the same people as the Paulicians. Their 
faith. Severe persecutions of Albigenses. Albi- 
genses punished for opposing infant baptism. 
Albigenses go to England, in lllfi. The Crusade 
against the Albigenses in France. Eyes plucked 
out, noses cut off and sent to other garrisons. One 
million of lives sacrificed. Albigenses driven 
into Germany, Switzerland and valleys of Pied- 
mont. Paterines. Their belief. Catholics bap- 
tize by immersion. Baptisteries. Paterines 
punished for opposing infant baptism and many 
of them flee to Germany. Tongues pulled out. 

A. D. 1019. 

ALBIGENSES.— In the year 1019, we find the 
Catholics inflicting their accustomed perse- 
cutions upon the Albigenses in France. The 
Catholic idea of salvation by works, was so com- 
pletely rooted and grounded in the people of that 
faith that no effort was made to propagate their 
doctrines except by compulsion. The idea had 
become universal, among them, that out of their 
church was no salvation, and that the end justified 
the use of any means, howsoever wicked, which 
might be used to compel submission to their faith. 
With the Catholic, out of the church was death ; 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 81 

within it was life, and in its maddening thirst for 
power, the Catholic party sought to crush every- 
thing beneath its feet, which it could not gather 
within its folds. 

Mr. Orchard says that in 1019, c 'a synod was held 
at Toulouse, to consider the most effectual method 
to rid the province of the Albigenses ; and though 
the whole sect was, in 1022, said to be burnt, yet 
the emigrants from Bulgaria coming in colonies 
into France, kept the seed sown, the churches 
recruited, and soon after the same class of people 
was found inhabiting Languedoc and Gascony. "*" 
I have introduced this quotation both to show the 
unrelenting hatred of Catholics towards all dis- 
senters, and to show a continuation of the true 
faith through the dark ages. Can any institution 
truthfully claim to be Christian which uses such 
means for the propagation of its faith ? 

We have seen that the Albigenses were the suc- 
cessors of the Paulicians. In Italy, says Mos- 
heira,tthey were called Paterini and Cathari. In 
regard to their faith a Catholic writer, quoted by 
Mr. Jones, says of them: " Their heresy is this: 
They say that the church is only among them- 
selves, because they alone follow the ways of 
Christ, and imitate the apostles, not seeking secu- 
lar gains, possessing no property, following the 
pattern of Christ, who was himself perfectly poor, 

^Orchard's Bap. Hist,, p. 178. fVol. 1, p. 294. 



82 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

nor permitting his disciples to possess anything. 
* * # They do not hold the baptism of infants, 
alleging that passage of the gospel, he that be- 
lieveth and is baptized shall be saved. They 
place no confidence in the intercession of the 
saints ; and all things in the church which have 
not been established by Christ himself or his 
apostles, they call superstitions. They do not ad- 
mit of any purgatory fire after death, contending 
that the souls as soon as they depart out of the 
bodies, do enter into rest, or punishment, proving 
it from that passage of Solomon, ' Which wayso- 
ever the tree falls, whether to the south or to the 
north, there it lies,' by which means they make 
void all the prayers and oblations of believers for 
the deceased."* 

Mr. Jones says further of the Albigenses, or 
Cathari : ' ' We have some additional information 
concerning these people given us by Egbert, a 
monk, and afterwards abbot of Schonange, who 
tells us that he had often disputed with these 
heretics, and that he had learned still more of 
their opinions from those who had, through the 
force of torments and the threat of being burned, 
renounced their communion. He says, 'They are 
commonly called Cathari, (JPurUans,) a sort of 
people very pernicious to the Catholic faith, which, 
like moths, they corrupt and destroy.' He adds, 

*Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 230. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 83 

that they were divided into several sects, and 
maintained their opinions by the authority of 
Scripture. He takes particular notice of their de- 
nying the utility of baptism to infants, 'which,' 
[A. D. I200.] say they, 'through their incapacity, 
-avails nothing to their salvation ; insisting that 
baptism ought to be deferred till they come to 
years of discretion, and even then those only 
should be baptized who make a personal profes- 
sion of faith and desire it. ' ' They are armed, ' says 
he, ' with the words of the Holy Scriptures which 
in any way seem to favor their sentiments, and with 
these they know how to defend their sentiments, and 
with these they know how to defend their errors, 
and to oppose the Catholic truth ; though they are 
in reality wholly ignorant of the true meaning 
couched in those words, and which cannot be dis- 
cerned without judgment. They are increased to 
great multitudes throughout all countries, to the 
great danger of the church — for their words eat 
like a canker, and, like a flying leprosy, runs 
every way, infecting the precious members of 
Christ.' "* 

These Albigenses, who were called Cathari, in 
Germany and Italy, were the successors of the 
Paulicians and were the same people except in 
name, and the time referred to by Egbert, the 
Catholic writer quoted, is A. D. 1200. The same- 
tones' Ch. Hist,, pp. 231, 232. 



84 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

ness of their faith with that of the Paulicians, and 
of the Baptists of the present day, is sufficient to 
identify them as the same people. From the fore- 
going quotations we learn : 1. That they took the 
Bible alone for their guide in Spiritual matters. 
2. They baptized only upon a personal profession 
of faith in Christ, which excluded infant baptism. 

A. D. 1176. Mr. Orchard says, "In the year 
1176, a Gallican council was called to convict and 
condemn the Albigenses. In the third canon, 
they were judged and condemned of heresy for 
denying baptism to children."- 3. They always 
maintained their opinions by an appeal to the 
Scriptures, and admitted of no purgatory fires 
after death. 

It is true that no mention is made of baptism by 
immersion, but it is also true that there is not one 
single instance of baptism having been adminis- 
tered in any other way, up to this time, A.D. 1200, 
except in cases of sickness, and that only among 
Catholics. Pope Stephen II, had permitted pour- 
ing, for baptism, in extreme cases, in the begin- 
ning of the eighth century, but not until 1311, 
was any mention ever made of sprinkling for 
baptism. 

The same Catholic writer, Egbert, as quoted by 
Mr. Jones, says that the Albigenses "were in- 
creased to great multitudes throughout all coun- 

*OrctiarcTs Bap. Hist. pp. 199, 200. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 85 

tries." This statement shows that they could not 
have sprung up in a single day. They had, there- 
fore, long existed under different names in other 
localities, and had survived the severe persecu- 
tions inflicted upon them by their enemies. Mr. 
Jones further says : "Throughout the whole of the 
twelfth century, these people were exposed to se- 
vere persecutions. The zeal of Galdinus, arch- 
bishop of Milan, was roused against them to such 
a pitch, that after making them the objects of un- 
relenting persecutions, during a period of eight or 
nine years, he at length fell a martyr to his own 
zeal, dying in the year 1173, in consequence of an 
illness contracted through the excess of his vehe- 
mence in preaching against them. Towards the 
middle of the twelfth century, [A. D. 1 140.] a 
small society of these Puritans, as they were called 
by some, or Waldenses, as they were termed by 
others, or Paulicians, as they were denominated by 
our old monkish historian, William of Neuburg, 
made their appearance in England. This latter 
writer, speaking of them, says : c They came origi- 
nally from Gascoyne, where being as numerous as 
the sand of the sea, they sorely infected France, 
Italy, Spain and England.' "* 

We have now seen that the Albigenses were the 
same people who were called Faulicians, from 
A.D.650 until A. D. 1050, a period of four hundred 

* Jones' Ch. Hist., pp. 232, 233. 



8 b COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

years. When scattered abroad by persecutions, 
they were known principally by the name Albi- 
genses, but frequently by the names Waldenses, 
Puritans or Cathari. 

In the year 1209, a crusade was organized in 
France for the purpose of exterminating the Albi- 
genses and Paulicians. I quote from Orchard, 
p. 211, "In the year 1209, a formidable army of 
cross-bearers, of forty days' service, was put into 
motion, destined to destroy all heretics. This 
army consisted of, some say 3, others, 500,000 
men. At their head, as chief commander, was — 
let every Englishman blush — Simon de JMontford, 
Earl of Leicester. The cruelties of these Crusaders 
appears to have had no parallel ; in a few months 
there were sacrificed about tvjo hundred thousand 
lives, and barbarities practiced before unheard of, 
all which met the approbation of Innocent III. 
Two large cities, Beziers and Carcassone, were 
reduced to ashes, and thousands of victims per- 
ished by the sword ; while thousands of others, 
driven from their burning houses, were wandering 
in the woods and mountains, sinking daily under 
the pressure of want. 

"In the fall of the same year, the monks 
preached up another crusade against the more 
northerly provinces of France. To stir the nation, 
they opened to all volunteers the gates of paradise, 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 87 

with all its glories, without any reformation of life 
or manners. The army raised from these efforts 
[A. D. 1210.] was directed in the ensuing spring, 
1210, by Alice, Simon de Montford's wife. With 
this army a renewal of last year's cruelties com- 
menced. All the inhabitants found were hung on 
gibbets. A hundred of the inhabitants of Bkom 
had their eyes plucked out, and their noses cut off, 
and these were sent, under the guidance of a man 
with one eye spared, to inform the garrisons of 
other towns what fate awaited them. The destruc- 
tion of property and life must have been very 
great, from the sanguinary character of those who 
managed these cruel measures. The most per- 
fidious conduct was conspicuous in the leaders of 
the Catholic cause, pope, bishops, legates, and 
officers of the army ; whatever terms submitted to 
availed the persecuted nothing, when in the hands 
of their enemies. On the 22d of July, the Cru- 
saders took possession of the castle of Minerva. 
The Albigensian Christians were in the meantime 
assembled — the men in one house, the women in 
another ; and these on their knees, resigned to the 
awaiting circumstances. A learned abbot preached 
to them, but they unanimously cried, 'We have 
renounced the Church of Rome — we will have 
none of your faith ; your labor is in vain ; for 
neither death nor life will make us renounce the 



00 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

opinions that we have embraced. ' An enormous 
pile of dry wood was prepared, and the abbot thus 
addressed the Albigenses, c Be converted to the 
Catholic faith, or ascend this pile ; ' but none of 
them were shaken. They set fire to the wood, and 
brought them to the fire, but it required no vio 
lence to precipitate them into the flames. Thus 
more than one hundred and forty willing victims 
perished after commending their souls to God. 
The sacrifice of human life under this crusade 
cannot be computed. " Orchard further continues, 
page 217, and quoting from Jones, says: "The 
churches were drowned in the blood of their mem- 
bers, or everywhere broken up and scattered — the 
public worship of the Albigenses had everywhere 
ceased. All teaching was become impossible. 
Almost every pastor or elder had perished in 
a frightful manner ; and the very small number 
of those who had succeeded in escaping the 
edge of the sword, now sought an asylum in dis- 
tant countries, and were enabled to avoid new 
persecutions, only by preserving the most studied 
silence respecting their opinions. The private 
members who had not perished by either fire or 
sword, or who had not withdrawn by flight from 
the scrutiny of the inquisition, knew that they 
could only preserve their lives by burying their 
creed in their bosoms. For them there were no 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. CO* 

more sermons — no more public prayers — no more 
ordinances of the Lord's house — even their chil- 
dren were not to be made acquainted, for a time at 
least, with their sentiments." 

4 'The visible assemblies of the Paulicians or 
Albigenses," says Gibbon, "were extirpated by 
fire and sword ; and the bleeding remnant escaped 
by flight, concealment or Catholic conformity. 
But the invincible spirit which they had kindled, 
still lived and breathed in the western world. In 
the State, in the church, and even in the cloister 
a latent succession was preserved of the disciples 
of Paul (Paulicians), who protested against the 
tyranny of Kome, embraced the Bible as a rule of 
faith, and purified their creed from all the visions 
of a false theology."* 

A. D. 1229. This crusade lasted about twenty 
years, and it has been estimated that one million 
of lives were sacrificed during that time. The 
remaining Albigenses, being driven from their 
homes, "migrated into Germany, Switzerland; 
some crossed the Alps, and found an asylum in 
the valleys of Piedmont, which were under the 
clement sceptre of the dukes of Savoy; while the 
Pyrenean mountains afforded a convenient retreat 
to thousands of these exiles, "f 

^Orchard's Bap. Hist, p. 218. flbid, p. 224. 

7 



90 compendium of baptist history. 

Pateeines. 

The denomination of Christians known in his- 
tory as Paterines, appear to date back to the time 
when Constantine took the Catholic party under 
his fostering care. In fact we find mention made 
of them fifty years before this time, or as early as 
A. D. 250. Orchard accredits Socrates with say- 
ing that at that time the dominant party called 
itself the Catholic (which means universal) church, 
while the oppressed party was known as the Church 
of the Martyrs. "While oppressed by the Catholic 
party they obtained the name Paterines, which 
means sufferers, or what is nearly synonymous 
with our understanding of the word martyrs. 
This term, says Orchard, was as commonly applied 
to the dissenters iu Italy, as the name Albigenses 
was in France, and Waldenses, in Piedmont. 
Mr. Orchard says of these Christians, in A.D. 750, 
[A. D. 750.] quoting from Kob. Bap., "The 
public religion of the Paterines consisted of noth- 
ing but social prayer, reading and expounding the 
gospels, baptism once, and the Lord's Supper as 
often as convenient.* Italy was full of such Chris- 
tians, which bore various names, from various 
causes. They said a Christian church ought to 

*Note. — The reference to "baptism once" is to distin- 
guish their baptism from the manner of the Catholics 
who at that time immersed three times for one baptism, 
which practice the Greek church still holds. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 91 

consist of only good people ; a church had nc* 
power to frame any constitution, i.e. make laws ; 
it was not right to take oaths ; it was not law- 
ful to kill mankind, nor should he be de- 
livered up to the officers of justice to be con- 
verted ; faith alone could save a man ; the benefit 
of society belonged to all its members ; the 
church ought not to persecute ; the law of Moses 
was no rule for Christians."* Mr. Orchard says : 
"The Catholics of those times baptized by im- 
mersion ; the Paterines, therefore, in all their 
branches, made no complaint of the action of bap- 
tism, but when they were examined they objected 
vehemently against the baptism of infants, and 
comdemned it as an error, "f [A. D. 800.] Mr. 
Orchard says of the same people in the year 800, 
"Those of their churches where baptism was ad- 
ministered, were known as baptismal churches,'' 
meaning churches which had baptisteries, "and 
to such churches all the Christians in the vicinage 
flocked for baptism. When Christianity spread 
into the country, the people met for worship where 
they could, but all candidates came up to the bap- 
tismal church to receive the ordinance. In time 
baptisteries were built in the country, and like the 
old ones, were resorted to by the neighboring in- 
habitants."^: 

Orchard's Bap. Hist., p. 142. flbid, p. 143. JIdem. 



ys5 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

A. D. 1 040. The same writer says : " The Pa- 
terines were in 1040, become very numerous and 
conspicuous at Milan, which was their principal 
residence : and here they flourished at least two 
hundred years. They had no connection with the 
church," meaning the Catholic church, "nor with 
the Fathers, considering them as corrupters of 
•Christianity. They called the cross the abomina- 
tion, standing in the holy place, and they said it 
was the mark of the beast. Nor had they any 
share in the State, for they took no oaths and 
bore no arms. The State did not trouble them, 
T^ut the clergy preached, prayed, and published 
books against them, with unabated zeal. * * * 
The Paterines were decent in their deportment, 
modest in their dress and discourse, and their 
morals were irreproachable. In their conversation 
there was no levity, no scurrility, no detraction, 
no falsehood, no swearing. Their dress was 
neither fine nor mean. They were chaste and tem- 
perate, never frequenting taverns, or places of 
public amusement. They were not given to anger 
or violent passions. They were not eager to ac- 
cumulate wealth, but were content with a plain 
plenty of the necessaries of life. They avoided 
commerce, because they thought it would expose 
them to collusion, falsehood, and oaths ; and they 
chose to live by labor or hanidcraft. They were 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 93 

always employed in spare hours, either in giving 
or receiving instruction. 

' ' Their churches were divided into sixteen com- 
partments, such as the English Baptists would call 
associations. Each of these was subdivided into 
parts, which would here be called churches or 
congregations. In Milan there was a street called 
Pararia, where it is supposed they met for war- 
ship. Their bishops and officers were mechanics, 
weavers, shoemakers, who maintained themselves 
by their industry. They had houses in Ferrara, 
Brescia, and in many other cities and towns. One 
of their principal churches was that of Concorrezzo, 
in the Milanese ; and the members of churches, 
in this association, were more than 1500. During 
the kingdom of the Goths and Lombards, the 
Anabaptists, as the Goths called them, had their 
share of churches and baptisteries, during which 
time they held no communion with any hier- 
archy."* 

The Paterines, however, were destined to share 
with their brethren, the persecutions which were 
everywhere inflicted upon those who held to the 
true faith. Indeed so generally were the true 
churches persecuted, that it soon became one of 
their characteristics, and the Paterines were no 
exception to this rule. 

^Orchard's Bapt. Hist., pp. 146, 147. 



94 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

A. D. 1210. In the year 1210, an effort was 
made to force infant baptism upon the people pro- 
fessing this faith, in Italy, and in order to pre- 
serve their lives, they were compelled to flee into 
European provinces, many of them going to 
Germany. 

This accursed evil — infant baptism — has caused 
more bloodshed than any other which ever cast its 
blighting influence upon Christianity. Again, and 
again it has deluged the true churches with the 
blood of its martyrs. The dogma of baptismal 
regeneration was not only one of the first heresies 
that afflicted Christianity, but the one out of 
which almost every other has grown. 

The churches of Christ have ever been bound, 
by their loyalty to the truth, to inveigh against 
every corruption of Bible truths, and this has al- 
ways made them odious in the eyes of the Catho- 
lics. Out of the idea of baptismal regeneration 
grew the doctrine of purgatory, and out of this 
grew the idea of masses and indulgences. A 
learned writer of ecclesiastical history has truly 
said that "mass was the creative principle of 
popery." Take away from the Catholics their 
4 'masses " and "indulgences, "and you drain their 
treasury. There was no difficulty, at the time of 
which we write, in securing the secular power, 
upon the part of the Catholics, to carry out their 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 95 

sanguinary measures against what they termed 
" heretics," and all people were heretics who in- 
veighed against the Romish hierarchy. 

I quote from Mr. Orchard's Bap. Hist., pp. 
154, 155, as follows : " In 1210, the Paterines had 
become so numerous and odious to the State 
clergy, that the old bishop of Ferrara, obtained an 
edict of the emperor, Otho IV., for the suppres- 
sion of them, but this measure extended only to 
that city. 

A. D. 1215. "In five years after, Pope Inno- 
cent III., of bloody celebrity, held a council at 
the Lateran, and denounced anathemas against 
heretics of every description. Dr. Wall declares 
that this council did enforce infant baptism, on 
the dissenters, as heretics taught it was to no pur- 
pose to baptize children." 

A. D. 1 220. ' ' In this council the Milanese were 
censured for sheltering the Paterines. After a 
variety of efforts to suppress them, the cruel policy 
of the court of Rome extended its sanguinary 
measures over Italy. In 1220, Honorius III., 
procured an edict of Frederick II. , which extended 
over all the imperial cities, as had been the case 
for some years over the South of France, and the 
effects of the pontiff's anger was soon felt by the 
deniers of the infant rite. These edicts were every 
way proper to excite horror, and which rendered 



yb COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

the most illustrious piety and virtue incapable of 
saving from the most cruel death, such as had the 
misfortune, says Mosheim, to be disagreeable to 
the inquisitors. No alternative of escaping those 
human monsters presented itself but flight, which 
was embraced by many. Indeed, says Mosheim, 
they passed out of Italy and spread like an inun- 
dation throughout the European provinces, but 
Germany in particular afforded an asylum, where 
they were called Gazari, instead of Cathari 
(Puritans)." 

A. D. 1224. In 1224, still more cruel edicts 
were issued against the Puritans, Paterines, Ar- 
noldists, etc. The Pope of Rome obtained a de- 
cree from Emperor Frederick, in which it was 
declared, ' ' We shall not suffer these wretches to 
live.''' A second, a third and a fourth decree fol- 
lowed, all of the same cruel nature. These de- 
crees provided that all the Paterines to whom the 
bishops were disposed to show favor were to have 
their tongues pulled out, in order that they might 
not corrupt other persons by their heresies. Others 
were to be committed to the flames.* 

It will be seen from the doctrines held by the 
Paterines, that they were Baptists, and so make 
another link in the chain of Baptist succession. 

^Orchard's Bap. Hist., p. 158. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 97 

CHAPTEE X. 

WALDENSEAN PERIOD— Continued. 

Petrohmcsians, Henricians, Amoldists, Zyonists, 
or Poor of Lyons, All shown to he Wcddenses. 
Persecuted for rejecting infant baptism. Severe 
persecutions in the valley of Loyse. 

A. D. lllO. 

PETROBRUSIANS.— About the year 1110, in 
the South of France, in the provinces of 
Languedoc and Provence, Peter de Bruys appeared, 
preaching the gospel with great power, and in- 
veighing against the ritualistic forms of worship as 
practiced by Catholics. Great numbers were said 
to have been converted to his doctrines, which he 
continued to preach for twenty years, when he 
was burned at Giles, a city of Languedoc, in 
France, in the year 1130. Mosheim says this 
was done by an enraged populace, who were in- 
stigated by the Romish clergy, whose traffic was 
in danger from the enterprising spirit of this re- 
former. 

Nothing so stirs up the Romish clergy as oppo- 
sition to their masses. If < < mass is the creative 
principle of popery," ignorance and superstition 
is best calculated to nourish it. 



98 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

Mosheim gives the following five tenets as a 
part of the system of doctrine as held by Peter de 
Bruys. 

First. That no persons were to be baptized be- 
fore they had the full use of their reason. 

Second. That it was an idle superstition to build 
churches for the service of God, who will accept 
a sincere worship wherever it is offered ; and that 
therefore such churches as had already been 
erected were to be destroyed. 

Third. That the crucifixes as instruments of 
superstition deserved the same fate. 

Fourth. That the real body and blood of Christ 
were not exhibited in the eucharist, but were 
merely represented in that holy ordinance by 
figures and symbols. 

Fifth. And lastly, that the oblations, prayers 
and good works of the living, could in no respect 
be advantageous to the dead. 

It is not likely that Peter de Bruys opposed the 
use of building for the worship of God, but merely 
the building of fine churches, and enriching them 
with costly furniture and paintings, which custom 
had been introduced by Constantine the Great, 
when he blended Christianity with pagan worship. 

Mr. Orchard speaks of Peter de Bruys as hav- 
ing united with the Albigenses, and becoming one 
of their chief ministers, and of his people as rebap- 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 99 

tizing such as came to them from the Catholics. 
So instead of starting a new sect, this reformer 
allied himself with the Anabaptists. Great num- 
bers were said to have held to the faith of Peter 
de Bruys, and they were known as Petrobvusians. 

The place where de Bruys commenced his min- 
istry is now known as Dauphine. He afterwards 
extended his labors into other provinces and king- 
doms, besides those of Languedoc and Provence, 
where he commenced his labors. 
Henkicians. 

A. D. 1 135. Within five years after the mar- 
tyrdom of Peter de Bruys, Henry of Lausanne, a 
city in Switzerland, appeared as a reformer. He 
had been a monk and a hermit, but when the 
light of divine truth broke upon his mind, he quit 
the monastery and hermitage and entered the 
ministry. He met with a success similar to that 
which attended the ministry of de Bruys. He 
declaimed with great fervor against the vices of 
the Romish clergy, and the superstitions of that 
church. The effect of his ministry is better seen 
by quoting from Bernard, a Catholic, who, writing 
to the Count of St. Giles, says: "How great are 
the evils which we have heard and known to be 
done by Henry, the heretic, and what he is still 
every day doing in the churches of God ! He 
wanders up and down in your country in sheep- 



100 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

clothing, being a ravenous wolf, but according to 
the hint given by our Lord, we know him by his 
fruits. The churches are without people — the 
people without priests — priests without reverence 
— and lastly, Christians without Christ. The life 
of Christ is denied to infants, by refusing them 
the grace of baptism, nor are they suffered to draw 
near unto salvation, though our Saviour tenderly 
cried out on their behalf."* 

There is no doubt that Henry held to the same 
views of doctrine which characterized the Albi- 
genses. The same writer, Bernard, states that the 
Albigenses were called ITenricians from their 
leader. Of his doctrinal sentiments, however, but 
little is known. " All we know is that he rejected 
infant baptism ; censured with severity the cor- 
rupt and licentious manners of the clergy; treated 
the festivals and ceremonies of the Catholic church 
with the utmost contempt, and held private as- 
semblies, in which he explained and inculcated 
his peculiar sentiments."! 

Benedict, in his History of the Baptists, p. 65, 
says: "Bishop Bossuet, the great Catholic con- 
troversialist, complaining of Calvin's party for 
claiming apostolical succession through the Wal- 
denses, observes: 'You adopt Henry and Peter 
Bruys among your predecessors, but both of them, 
everybody knows, were Anabaptists.' ' 

^Orchard's Bap. Hist., p. 18T>. f Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 234. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 101 

The Catholic clergy were so incensed against 
Henry on account of his doctrinal views, and be- 
cause he inveighed against their corrupt and licen- 
tious practices, that they "seized and carried him 
before Pope Eugenius III., who assembled a 
council at Rheims, in which he presided in per- 
son, and having received a number of accusations 
against Henry, committed him, in the year 1158, 
[A. D. 1158.] to a close prison in which he soon 
ended his days/'* 
Arnoldists. 

This chapter would be incomplete were I to 
make no mention of Arnold of Brescia, and of 
those who held to his views, though there is little 
to say of them for but little is known. That little, 
however, shines with the lustre of the true faith, 
and their name, because of the intrepid courage of 
their leader and because as far as is known, his 
followers held to no heretical views, should be 
preserved in the annals of our history. 

A.aD. 1 137. About the year 1137, a reformer, 
who was endowed with more than ordinary talent 
and learning, and who proved a powerful oppo- 
nent to the Romish clergy, appeared in Italy. 
This was Arnold of Brescia. He inveighed in the 
strongest terms against the union of church and 
State, and against clerical orders, declaring that a 
shepherd should confine himself to the spiritual 

*Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 234. 



102 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

needs of his flock. His bold advocacy of religious 
liberty alarmed the Catholic party, and in a coun- 
cil (1139) he was condemned to perpetual silence. 
But it was not in the power of councils to close 
his mouth simply by issuing decrees. He went at 
once to the canton of Zurich, in Switzerland, and 
commenced his efforts for reformation. Driven 
from this place he went to the seat of the Vatican 
and raised the standard of reformation in the im- 
perial city. He impressed upon the people the 
necessity of setting bounds to clerical authority, 
and sought by his eloquence and logic to divorce 
church and State. He was so successful in this 
that the people were aroused, and being unaccus- 
tomed to such freedom of speech, they were ex- 
cited to that degree that they abused the Romish 
clergy, destroyed their property and "required all 
ecclesiastics to swear to the new constitution." 

There is no intimation that Arnold encouraged 
his followers to go this far, but when people long 
oppressed by an iron rule are aroused, they are 
not easily restrained, and are apt to go to ex- 
tremes. Enthusiasm arose to such a pitch that the 
pope found it necessary to withdraw from Rome. 
"Arnold maintained his station above ten years, 
while two popes trembled in the Vatican, or wan- 
dered as exiles in the adjacent cities."* The Romish 
hierarchy, however, soon rallied. The pope re- 

*Orchard's Bapt. Hist., p. 151. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 103 

gained his power. This intrepid champion of 
religious liberty was crucified, his body burned to 
ashes, and the ashes thrown into the river Tiber.* 

Arnold had been condemned by the Lateran 
council in 1139, for rejecting infant baptism. He 
condemned the use of sacraments as held by the 
Catholics, and denied that baptism had any saving 
efficacy. He also opposed the union of church 
and State, or church establishments, and taught 
that "nothing should be left to the ministers of 
the gospel but a spiritual authority and a subsist- 
ence drawn from tithes, and from the voluntary 
oblations and contributions of the people, "f 

Those who embraced Arnold's doctrinal views 
were called Arnoldists. As far as we have been 
able to learn, their doctrines were in accord with 
those held by Baptists. 
Lyonists, or The Poor of Lyons. 

In the year 1160, :{: there lived in the city of 
Lyons, France, a rich merchant by the name of 
Peter Waldo. This man employed a priest to 
translate the four gospels, with other books of the 
Bible, from the Latin into the French language. 
He had no sooner read these sacred books with 

*Jones'Cb. Hist., p. 237. 

tMosheim, vol. 1, p. 331. ' 

JNote. — Mr. Jones places this date at 1179, which is 
evidently incorrect, as we find the "Good men at Lyons." 
or "Leonists" were condemned by a council held at 
Lombez, in Gascone, in the year 1175. 



lOi COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

proper care and attention, than he perceived that 
the religion which was taught in the Romish 
church differed wholly from that tanght by Christ 
and the apostles. Shocked at the glaring contra- 
diction between the teachings of the Bible and 
the practices of the Romish church, this man aban- 
doned his mercantile pursuits, distributed his 
wealth among the poor, entered at once upon the 
duties of a teacher, and commenced to instruct the 
multitudes in the simpler principles of Chris- 
tianity. 

The archbishop of Lyons, and other dignitaries 
of the Catholic party, at once commenced a vigor- 
ous opposition to the views of this new leader, but 
without avail. The simplicity of the doctrines 
which this man taught, together with the spotless 
purity of the lives of his followers, with their 
noble contempt for riches and honors, commended 
Waldo and his followers to the confidence of the 
people, and soon churches were established, first 
at Lyons, and afterwards in other parts of France, 
and in Lombardy, whence they propagated their 
faith in other provinces of Europe. 

We have already seen that a church, of which 
Irenaeus was pastor in the year 200, existed here 
years before this. But this primitive church had 
long since become extinct, and its doctrines per- 
verted until even the form of religion was lost in 
the gilded show of a semi-pagan Christianity. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 105 

Mosheim states that the Waldenses derived 
their name from Peter Waldo, but Waldo's fol- 
lowers were not known by the name of Waldenses 
in the town where his work begun, but were called 
the "Poor of Lyons." Sometimes they were de- 
nominated Lionists.* "Reiner Sacco speaks of 
the Lionists as a sect that had nourished above 
five hundred years (back to 750), while he men- 
tions authors of note among them who make their 
antiquity remount to the apostolic age."f Dr. 
McLaine, in Mosheim's history, says: "We may 
affirm with the learned Beza, that these people 
(the Waldenses) derived their name from the val- 
leys they inhabited ; and hence Peter of Lyons 
was called in the Latin Valdus, because he adopted 
their doctrine.":): Mr. Orchard says there were 
Waldenses five hundred years before Peter Waldo. 
Jones' Church History, p. 257, says, "It is also 
proved from their books, that they existed as Wal- 
denses before the time of Peter Waldo." 

"When those severe measures emanated from 
the Emperor Honorius against rebaptizers (A. D. 
413), the Baptists left the seats of opulence and 
power, and sought retreats in the country, and in 
the valleys of Piedmont — which last place in par- 
ticular became their retreat from imperial op- 

*Note. — Sometimes spelled Leonists, from Leona, the 
ancient name of the city of Lyons. 

fOrchard's Bap. Hist., p. 257. JIdem. 



106 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTOKY. 

pression."* They were from this time called Val- 
denses, or Waldenses. 

It is a well known fact, and it has been fully 
established in the preceding pages that the Albi- 
genses rebaptized all who came to their com- 
munion from the Catholics, and Mr. Orchard says, 
' ' The Albigenses, ' whose religious views had been 
a considerable time established, ' gave their entire 
support to Waldo, so soon as he appeared in 
public, "f 

Waldo's religious sentiments spread so rapidly 
that Pope Alexander III. heard of it, and not only 
anathematized the reformer and his followers, but 
ordered the archbishop to proceed against them 
with the utmost vigor. The result was that Waldo 
himself was concealed by his friends in the city 
of Lyons for three whole years. He then retired 
to Dauphiny, "where he preached with abundant 
success, and great numbers of disciples were made 
to "his faith who were denominated Lionists, 
Yaudois, Albigenses, or Waldenses ; for the very 
same class of Christians is designated by these 
various appellations at different times, and accord- 
ing to the different countries or quarters of the 
same country in which they appeared.";): 

Persecuted at Dauphiny, Waldo retired into 
Picardy and from thence he was driven to Ger- 

*Orchard's Bap. Hist., p. 256. fldem, 192. 
Uones' Ch. Hist., p. 260. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 10T 

many, where he preached successfully. He finally 
settled in Bohemia. Numbers of his disciples fled 
from persecutions to the valleys of Piedmont, tak- 
ing with them an open Bible. Severe persecu- 
tions followed, but "the blood of the martyrs " is 
again "the seed of the church," and the scattered 
disciples carried the word of God everywhere. 
Churches were planted in Bulgaria, Croatia, Dal- 
matia and Hungary (see Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 261), 
which flourished throughout the thirteenth cen- 
tury. In Bohemia, and the country of Passau, it 
has been computed that there were not less than 
eighty thousand of these Christians in the year 
[A. D. 1315.] 1315. In short, says the historian, 
Jones, "we shall find in the sequel, that they 
spread themselves throughout almost every coun- 
try in Europe ; but they were everywhere treated 
as the filth of the world, and the ofTscouring of all 
things."* 

It has been distinctly stated of the Petrobru- 
sians and "Poor of Lyons" or Leonists, the dis- 
ciples of Peter Waldo, that they allied themselves 
with the Albigenses. While we have no account 
of the regular baptism, either of Peter de Bruys, 
or Peter of Lyons (Waldo), yet the very fact of 
their union with the Anabaptists is sufficient evi- 
dence on this point. The Waldenses, Albigenses, 
Paterines, Paulicians, Donatists and Montanists 

* Jones, p. 261, quoting Perrin's Hist. Waldenses, ch. II. 



108 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

^were all known as Anabaptists, from the fact that 
they rebaptized all who came over to them from 
the Catholics.* They denied the appellation Ana- 
baptists, however, for they did not recognize 
'Catholic immersion as baptism in any sense. From 
the days of Constantine the Great, all Christians 
■who held the faith of the Albigenses, or Wal- 
•denses, administered baptism to all who came to 
them from the Catholics. 

A. D. 1175. In the year 1175, the Lyonists 
were included with the Albigenses in a decree 
issued by the pope for their suppression. I quote 
tfrom Orchard's Bap. Hist., p. 199, "To suppress 
the heresy that was strenghtened by Waldo's 
ministry, the pope sent a cardinal and three 
bishops, in 1176, as commissioned inquisitors 
against the believers — Lyonists, Paterines, Good 
Men, etc., with a creed requiring all persons sus- 
pected of heresy, to subscribe to its contents. 
One of its articles ran thus : ' We believe that none 
are saved, except they are baptized ; and that 
children are saved by baptism, and that baptism is 
to be performed by a priest in the church. ' Many 
Albigenses refusing the terms were burnt in dif- 
ferent cities in the South of France. The com- 

*Note. — The term Anabaptist is derived from the two 
Greek words ana, again, and baptidzo, to baptize, and 
means literally to baptize (immerse) again. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 109* 

missioners on examining those people found them 
to deny the utility of infant baptism." 

Quite a number of popes were designated by the 
name Innocent, and each one, it appears, tried to 
exceed his predecessor in acts of cruelty, and 
Innocent VIII. was no exception. This man was 
promoted to the Tiara in 1484, and at once com- 
menced to issue his bulls for the suppression of 
the Waldenses. ' ' We have heard, ' ' said the pope, 
"and it has come to our knowledge, not without 
much displeasure, that certain sons of iniquity, 
followers of that abominable and pernicious sect 
of malignant men called 'the Poor of Lyons,' or 
Waldenses, who have so long ago endeavored, in 
Piedmont and other places, to ensnare the sheep 
belonging to God, to the perdition of their souls, 
having damnably risen up, under a feigned pre- 
tense of holiness — being given up to a reprobate 
sense and made to err greatly from the way of 
truth — committing things contrary to the orthodox 
faith, offensive to the eyes of Divine Majesty, and 
which occasion a great hazard of souls, etc."* 
The pope then threatened to ' ' tread them under 
foot as venomous vipers," and proceeded at once 
to carry out his threat of extirpation. "An army 
was soon raised by Albert, the pope's legate, and 
marched directly into the valley of Loyse. The 
inhabitants apprised of their approach fled to their 

* Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 360. 



110 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

caves at the tops of the mountains, carrying with 
them their children, and whatever valuables they 
possessed, as well as what they thought necessary 
for their support. The lieutenant finding the in- 
habitants all fled, and that not an individual ap- 
peared with whom he could converse, had con- 
siderable trouble in finding their retreats, when 
causing quantities of wood to be placed at the 
entrance of their caves, he ordered the same to be 
set on fire. The consequence of this inhuman 
conduct was, four hundred children were suffo- 
cated in their cradles, or in the arms of their dead 
mothers, while multitudes to avoid death by suffo- 
cation, or being committed to the flames, precipi- 
tated themselves headlong from their caverns 
upon the rocks below, where they were dashed to 
pieces ; if any escaped death by the fall, they were 
immediately slaughtered by the soldiers. It ap- 
pears more than three thousand men and women 
belonging to the valley of Loyse, perished on this 
occasion. Measures equally ferocious were adopted 
against the inoffensive inhabitants of other valleys, 
and with a like cruel success. * * * So effectual 
were the papal measures that the inhabitants were 
wholly extirpated in the above named valleys, and 
these abodes were afterwards peopled with new 
inhabitants.'*^ 

♦Orchard's Bap. Hist,, pp. 279. 280. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. Ill 

A. D. 1484. Mr. Jones, quoting from Perrin's 
History, corroborates the above testimony, and 
says that "not one family of Waldenses subse- 
quently resided in the valley, which proves that 
all the inhabitants of both sexes died at that 
time."* 

There can now be no doubt that the Albigenses, 
the Poor of Lyons and the Waldenses were one 
and the same people. From this time on to the 
end of the Waldensean period, in 1686, we find 
these Christians most generally known by the 
terms Waldenses or Anabaptists. At the close of 
the Waldensean period the prefix ana begun to be 
dropped, except when applied in a sense of deri- 
sion, and they were afterwards simply called 
Baptists. 

*Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 361. 



112 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

CHAPTEE XL 

WALDENSEAN PERIOD— Continued. 

Waldenses. Their persecutions. Flight into Cala- 
bria, and final destruction in Piedmont valleys. 
Were they Baptists f Their Faith. Confession 
of Faith published in 1120. 

HISTORY tells us that in the dark ages, the 
Waldenses spread themselves all over Eu- 
rope, but were everywhere treated as "the filth of 
the world and the off scouring of all things. " Each 
succeeding generation seemed to increase in hatred 
towards these unfortunate people, and gave vent 
to its pent up fury with increased energy. 

Mr. Jones says, "During the dark ages which 
succeeded the invasion of Europe by the barbarous 
nations, when feudal anarchy distracted the civil 
governments and a flood of superstition had de- 
luged the church, Christianity, banished from the 
seats of empire, and loathing the monkish abodes 
of indolence and vice, meekly retired into the 
sequestered valleys of Piedmont. Finding there 
a race of men unarrayed in hostile armor, uncon- 
taminated by the doctrines and commandments of 
an apostate church, unambitious in their temper, 
and simple in their manners, she preferred their 
society, and among them took up her abode."* 

*Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 226. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 113 

The civil authorities in the Roman empire had 
long since become subject to the dictates of the- 
Romish hierarchy, and when a ruler was not in 
entire accord with the will of the pope, he was 
promptly deposed, and another who was willing to 
carry out the pope's wishes was enthroned. Mul- 
titudes of Waldenses fled from the hand of perse- 
cution like defenseless sheep before the devouring 
wolves. "They crossed the Alps and traveled in 
every direction, as Providence and the prospect of 
safety conducted them, into Germany, England, 
France, Italy, and other countries. There they 
trimmed their lamps and shone with new lustre."* 
The storm which threatened their destruction only 
scattered them, and everywhere they went, their 
principles took deep root, and their numbers- 
multiplied. 

A. D. 1194*. The following decree was issued 
in the year 1194, by Idlefonsus, who declared 
himself, "King of Arragon, by the grace of God"; 

"Forasmuch as it has pleased God to set u& 
over his people, it is but fit and just, that accord- 
ing to our might we should be continually solicit- 
ous for the welfare and defense of the same ; 
wherefore we, in imitation of our ancestors, and 
in obedience to the canons which determine and 
ordain heretics, as persons cast out from the sight 
of God and all Catholics, to be condemned and per- 

*Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 227. 



114 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

secuted everywhere, do command and charge that 
the Waldenses, Inzabati, who otherwise are called 
'the Poor of Lyons,' and all other heretics who 
cannot be numbered, being excommunicated from 
the holy church, adversaries to the cross of Christ, 
violaters and corrupters of the Christian religion, 
and the avowed enemies of us and our kingdom 
and all our dominions. Whosoever, therefore, 
from this day forward, shall presume to receive 
the said Waldenses, and Inzabati, or any other 
heretics of whatsoever profession, into their house, 
or to be present at their pernicious sermons, or to 
afford them meat or any other favor, shall thereby 
incur the indignation of Almighty God, as well as 
ours, and have his goods confiscated, without the 
remedy of appeal, and be punished as if he were 
actually guilty of high treason. And we strictly 
charge and command, that this our edict and per- 
petual constitution be publicly read on the Lord's 
days by the bishops and other rectors of churches, 
in all the cities, castles, and towns of our king- 
dom, and throughout all our dominions : and that 
the same be observed by vicars, bailiffs, justices, 
etc. , and all the people in general ; and that the 
aforesaid punishment be inflicted on all trans- 
gressors. 

"We further will, that if any person, noble or 
ignoble, shall in any part of our dominions find 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 115' 

any of these wicked wretches, who shall be known 
-to have had three days' notice of this our edict, 
and that do not forthwith depart, but rather are 
obstinately found staying or lingering ; let such 
know that if they shall anyway plague, despite- 
ful! y use or distress them, wounding them unto 
death and maiming of them only excepted, he will 
in so doing perform nothing but what will be very 
grateful and pleasing to us, and shall be so far 
from fearing to incur any penalty thereby, that he 
may be sure rather to deserve our favor. Further- 
more we give these wicked miscreants respite, 
though that may seem somewhat contrary to rea- 
son and our duty, till the day after All Saint's 
day; but that all those who either shall not be gone 
by that time, or at least preparing for their de- 
parture, shall be spoiled, beaten, cudgelled, and 
shamefully ill-treated."* 

A. D. 1224. These edicts not being sufficient 
to exterminate the Waldenses, the pope issued 
one edict after another declaring that "We shall 
not suffer these wretches to live." These meas- 
ures, though severe and continuing for years, 
failed to have the desired effect in ridding the coun- 
try of the Waldenses, and the pope found it neces- 
sary to appoint a standing tribunal, if possible, in 
every country where they were known to exist. 
The inquisitors were armed with every imaginable 

* Jones' Ch. Hist., pp. 263, 264. 



116 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

power to punish all persons who dared to think 
differently to the pope and his successors.* 

A. D. 1260. Hunted like vile criminals, but 
unwilling to give up their principles, which were 
dearer to them than life itself, these persecuted 
and down trodden Waldenses finally found a home 
in Calabria, where they continued until the re- 
formation of the sixteenth century when they were 
put to death. Mr. Orchard, p. 159, says, "The 
straightened circumstances of the Yaudois (Wal- 
denses) in Pragella, suggested the propriety of 
seeking a new territory; this they obtained on their 
own terms of liberty in Calabria, a district in the 
north-east of Italy. This new settlement pros- 
pered, and their religious peculiarities awakened 
displeasure in the old inhabitants ; but the land- 
lords, well pleased with their industry, afforded 
them protection. This colony received fresh ac- 
cessions from time to time of those who fled from 
persecutions raised against them in Piedmont, and 
continued to flourish when the Reformation downed 
on Italy when they were barbarously murdered." 
Mr. Orchard further says: " These plain facts 
allow us to conclude that Italy must have, in parts, 
enjoyed the lamp of truth from apostolic days. 
That the Cathari, or Puritan churches, continued 
for ages is acknowledged of the views of which 
we have spoken. Such churches were strength- 
orchard's Bap. Hist., p. 159. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 117 

-ened by the Baptists of Bulgaria, whose sameness 
of views admitted their incorporation. (1) When 
these congregations became too large to assemble 
in one place, they parted and held separate as- 
semblies, in perfect unity with each other. (2) 
They owned the Scriptures as a rule of conduct, 
and administered the ordinance of baptism to 
(3) believers by one* (4) immersion. (5) They 
maintained church discipline even on their minis- 
ters, as examples are recorded. (6) They were 
always found on the side of religious liberty, and 
considered the oppressing clergy the locusts which 
darkened and tormented the world, "f 

Were these Waldenses Baptists ? It will be seen 
from the last quotation that they possessed the 
following characteristics which have distinguished 
the Baptists in all ages: 

First. These churches were independent con- 
gregations. 

Second. They owned the Scriptures as their rule 
of conduct. 

Third. They administered baptism to believers 
only. 

Fourth. They administered baptism by one im- 
mersion. 

*Note. — This one immersion is to distinguish from the 
three immersions, as practiced by the Catholic church at 
that time. 

tOrchard's Bapt. Hist., p. 160. 



118 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

Fifth. Their ministers were amenable to the 
discipline of the local churches. 

Sixth. They were the advocates of religious 
liberty. 

That these were Baptist churches there can be 
no doubt. 

Whenever an occasion has arisen for its neces- 
sity, the Baptists have always published to the 
world, an abstract of their faith drawn from the 
teachings of the Scriptures. These articles have 
not always expressed the whole of their faith, but 
just so much as the necessities of the case de- 
manded, and sufficient to cover any disputed doc- 
trines, which the occasion might require. In the 
year 1120, the Waldenses put forth the following 
Confession of Faith, which was published by their 
historian, John Paul Perrin. I quote from Jones' 
Church History, p. 276 : 

4 'CONFESSION OF FAITH OF THE WALDENSES. 

"1. We believe and firmly maintain all that is 
contained in the twelve articles of the symbol, 
commonly called the apostle's creed, and we re- 
gard as heretical whatever is inconsistent with the 
said twelve articles. 

"2. We believe that there is one God — the 
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

"3. We acknowledge for sacred canonical 
Scriptures the books of the Holy Bible. (Here 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 119 

follows the title of each, exactly conformable to 
our received canon, but which it is deemed on that 
account, quite unnecessary to particularize.) 

u 4r. The books above mentioned teach us — 
That there is one God, almighty, unbounded in 
wisdom, and infinite in goodness, and who, in his 
goodness, has made all things. For he created 
Adam after his own image and likeness. But 
through the enmity of the devil, and his own dis- 
obedience, Adam fell, sin entered into the world, 
and we became transgressors in and by Adam. 

1 '5. That Christ had been promised to the 
fathers who received the law, to the end that, 
knowing their sin by the law, and their unright- 
eousness and insufficiency, they might desire the 
coming of Christ to make satisfaction for their 
sins, and to accomplish the law by himself. 

"6. That at the time appointed of the Father, 
Christ was born — a time when iniquity everywhere 
abounded, to make it manifest that it was not for 
the sake of any good in ourselves, for all were 
sinners, but that He, who is true, might display 
his grace and mercy towards us. 

u 7. That Christ is our life, and truth, and 
peace, and righteousness — our shepherd and advo- 
cate, our sacrifice, and priest, who died for the 
salvation of all who should believe, and rose again 
for their justification. 



120 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

"8. And we also firmly believe, that there is 
no other mediator, or advocate with God, the 
Father, but Jesus Christ. And as to the Yirgin 
Mary, she was holy, humble, and full of grace ; 
and this we also believe concerning all other 
saints, namely, that they are waiting in heaven for 
the resurrection of their bodies at the day of judg- 
ment. 

"9. We also believe, that, after this life, there 
are but two places — one for those that are saved, 
the other for the damned, which (two) we call 
paradise and hell, wholly denying that imaginary 
purgatory of Anti-christ, invented in opposition 
to the truth. 

"10. Moreover, we have ever regarded all the 
inventions of men (in the affairs of religion) as an 
unspeakable abomination before God ; such as the 
festival days and vigils of saints, and what is 
called holy-water, the abstaining from flesh on 
certain days, and such like things, but above all, 
the masses. 

"11. We hold in abhorrence all human inven- 
tions, as proceeding from Anti-christ, which pro- 
duce distress* and are prejudicial to the liberty of 
the mind. 

"12. We consider the sacraments as signs of 

*Note. — Alluding- probably to the voluntary penances 
and mortifications imposed by the Catholics on them- 
selves. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 121 

holy things, or as the visible emblems of invisible 
blessings. We regard it as proper and even 
necessary that believers use these symbols or 
visible forms when it can be done. Notwithstand- 
ing which, we maintain that believers may be 
saved without these signs, when they have neither 
place nor opportunity of observing them. 

u 13. We acknowledge no sacraments (as of 
divine appointment) but baptism and the Lord's 
Supper. 

"14. We honor the secular powers with sub- 
jection, obedience, promptitude and payment." 



122 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTOKY. 

CHAPTEK XII. 

WALDENSEAN PEKIOD— Continued. 

Waldenses. Importance they attached to regular 
ordination. Conversion of Pchard, a Jacobin 
monk. Testimony of a Catholic to the faith of 
the Bohemians, who were Baptists. Huss and 
Jerome of Prague burned. Severe persecutions. 
Dead disintered and burned. Others burned or 
buried alive. Driven to the Alps in the night. 
Women and children perish. Private marks on 
their gates by which the Waldenses might be 
Jcnown in Germany. Walter Lollard. Mosheini's 
testimony to the origin of the Baptists. 

BAPTISTS have never held to the doctrine of 
apostolic succession, but have generally be- 
lieved in church succession, and have always 
claimed that all authority is vested in the churches 
as the executives of Christ. While this is true they 
have ever had a high regard for a stated ministry. 
They have not been willing to force upon their 
members the responsibilities of ministerial obliga- 
tions and duties until they have been duly set 
apart for this work, according to the apostolical 
injunction, by ordination. 

It sometimes occurred, during the severe perse- 
cutions to which the Waldensean churches were 
subjected, that their ministers were either all 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 12& 

killed or driven out of the country, and there was 
no one left to administer the ordinances of the 
Lord's house. A case of this kind occurred in 
Bohemia, of which we have the following account : 
"Commenius, who published a synopsis of the 
discipline of the churches of Bohemia, dwells par- 
ticularly upon this article and shows that ' a stated 
ministry was always considered as a matter of great 
importance among the Waldensean churches.* A 
dreadful persecution broke out among the Bohe- 
mian brethren in the days of Commenius, which 
produced such havoc among them that he himself 
4 was the only surviving bishop that escaped.' 
The scattered brethren, in process of time, elected 
three persons as qualified for the pastoral office, 
but 'found themselves greatly perplexed about 
their ordination.' 

"Having understood that there were some Wal- 
densean churches on the confines of Moravia and 
Austria, to satisfy their own scruples, as well as 
those of others, they resolved to send Michael 
Zambergius, one of their pastors, with two other 
persons to find out those Waldenses, and give 
them an account of what had passed among them, 
and especially to ask their advice upon the matter 
in hand. They met with one Stephen, aWaldensean 
bishop, who sent for others also residing in that 
quarter, with whom they had a conference upon 



124 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

the doctrines of the gospel, and the state of their 
churches, and by them the said three pastors were 
ordained by the imposition of hands. ' Hence, ' 
says Dr. Allix, 'it is abundantly evident, that as 
the Waldenses have preserved the faith that was 
committed to them, so have they been as careful 
to preserve entire among them the ancient disci- 
pline of the church.' "* 

These Waldensean brethren regarded regular 
ordination of so much importance, that they sent 
the three brethren some five or six hundred miles 
that they might be ' ' examined upon the doctrines 
of the gospel," and receive ordination at the 
hands of a regularly ordained ministry. In this 
way have the pure doctrines of the gospel been 
preserved through all ages. 

Much of our history would never have been 
known, were it not for the recorded persecutions 
which the Waldenses suffered at the hands of their 
enemies. In this way we are enabled to trace 
their history, by their blood-stained foot prints 
through the entire wilderness period of the 
churches. They were followed from city to city, 
and from country to country, but always leaving 
behind them the testimony that they were the true 
witnesses of Christ. 

A. D. 12 IO. In the year 1210, we find that 
twenty-four persons of the Waldensean faith were 

*Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 286. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 125 

seized in Paris, some of whom were burned. Again 
in the year 1334, "the monks of the inquisition, 
who were deputed to search after the Walden- 
ses, apprehended one hundred and fourteen of 
them at Paris, who were burnt alive, sustaining 
their torture with admirable fortitude. It is also 
related by the author of a work entitled, ' l The Sea 
of Histories," that in the year 1378, the persecu- 
tion against the Waldenses continuing, a vast 
number of them were burnt in the Place de Grave, 
in Paris.' '.* 

A. D. 1330 to A. D. 1457. The Waldenses were 
grievously harrassed and persecuted in several 
parts of Germany, from 1330 to 1457, a period of 
more than one hundred and twenty-five years. It 
is related that an inquisitor by the name of 
Echard, a Jacobin monk, inflicted cruelties of 
great severity upon the Waldenses in Germany 
about the year 1330. He was afterwards induced 
to investigate their doctrines, and the force of 
truth ultimately prevailed over all his prejudices, 
and his own conscience attested that many of the 
errors and corruptions, which they had charged 
upon the Catholics, really existed. Finding him- 
self unable to disprove the articles of their faith 
by the word of God, he became converted, em- 
braced their faith, and was afterwards burned at 
Heidelberg by the inquisition. "His dying testi- 

*Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 328. 



126 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

mony was a noble attestation of the principles and 
conduct of the Waldenses."* 

A Koman Catholic writer bears this testimony 
to the faith of the Bohemians, who were Baptists : 
c ' They say the church of Rome is not the church 
of Jesus Christ, but an assembly of ungodly men, 
and that it ceased to be the true church at the time 
Pope Sylvester (330) presided. They despise and 
reject all the ordinances and statutes of the 
church, as being too many and very burdensome. 
They condemn all the sacraments of the church, f 
Concerning the sacrament of baptism, they say 
that the catechism signifies nothing ; that the ab- 
solution pronounced over infants avails nothing. 
That godfathers and godmothers do not under- 
stand what they answer the priests. That infants 
cannot be saved by baptism, as they do not be- 
lieve ; they condemn the custom of believers com- 
municating no more than once a year, whereas 
they communicate every day (or every Lord's 
day). They deride the dress of priests ; and re- 
proach the church that she raises bastards, boys, 
and notorious offenders, to high ecclesiastical dig- 
nities. Whatever is preached without Scripture 
proof, they account no better than fables. With 

* Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 327. 

fNOTE.— Baptists deny that baptism and the Lord's 
Supper are sacraments. They do not attach to these ordi- 
nances any saving efficacy. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTOEY. 127 

this account agrees the history of the Waldedses, 
given by JEneas Sylvius, afterwards Pope 
Pius II."* 

It appears that there were Baptists in Bohemia, 
one of the States of Germany, from A. D. 55 to 
1522, when some of them were drawn into the 
strong current of the reformation, f The severe 
persecutions to which they had been subjected for 
so many centuries, and the consequent sufferings 
which they endured, had told fearfully upon their 
spirits. In this dejected condition they were 
meditating a compromise with the Catholics. 
Luther appeared at this time protesting with all 
his might against some of the worst heresies of 
Komanism. These Baptists wrote to him for ad- 
vice and finally submitted their creed to him. He 
greatly admired its agreement with that of the 
ancient churches. "They now, under his protec- 
tion agreed to leave off rebaptizing."^: 

A. D. 1 407. In the year 1407, John Huss ap- 
peared in the character of a reformer. He is said 
to have embraced the views of the Waldenses. 
Space forbids more than a mere allusion to this 
man, and his coadjutor, Jerome of Prague. Huss 
was a man of irreproachable character, and great 
influence. At the age of twenty-one he was raised 
to the dignity of professor in the University of 

^Orchard's Bap. Hist., p. 235. 
tlbid, p. 230. JIdem, p. 252. 



128 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

Prague, and at twenty-three, he was appointed to 
preach in one of the largest churches in that city. 
Not until he was thirty years old, however, have 
we any account of his advocating a reformation. 
We have no positive evidence of his ever becom- 
ing a Baptist, but "his sermons were said to be 
full of Anabaptist errors, as they were so called, 
and many of his followers became Baptists."* 

The influence of Huss, in exposing the heresies 
and corruptions of Rome, drew upon himself the 
anathemas of the pope. Jerome of Prague was a 
companion and friend of Huss. He was educated 
in his native city, and afterwards traveled in 
many of the countries of Europe, where he was 
much admired for his graceful oratory. On his 
return he engaged, as did Huss, in active opposi- 
tion to the corruptions of the Romish hierarchy. 
Huss was already confined in a castle near the 
city of Constance. He and Jerome were both 
tried before the council of Constance in the year 
1415, and condemned to be burned. Huss ex- 
pired at the stake, July 7th, 1415. He bore his 
sufferings with heroic fortitude and expired pray- 
ing for his persecutors. 

The dread of suffering, at first somewhat in- 
timidated Jerome, and his enemies taking advan- 
tage of this caused his sentence to be delayed, 
hoping that he would recant. His courage, how- 
orchard's Bapt. Hist., p. 238. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 129 

ever, rose and he avowed his doctrines in the most 
open manner, and supported them with increased 
fervor. Jerome was burned, May 20th, 1416. 
He expired singing : 

' ' This soul of mine in flames of fire, 
O Christ, I offer thee." 

The most severe persecutions were now inflicted 
upon the Waldenses everywhere, and every effort 
was made for their suppression. They were al- 
lowed no peace while living, nor were their bodies 
allowed to rest in their graves when dead, but 
were dragged forth and burned. 

A. D. 1250. Mr. Jones, quoting from Reinerius 
Saccho, states that "about the year 1250, the Wal- 
denses had churches in Albania, Lombardy, Milan, 
in Romagna, Yincenza, Florence and Yan Spole- 
tine ; and in the year 1280, there was a consider- 
able number of Waldenses in Sicily. In all these 
places the sanguinary edicts of the emperor, 
Frederick II. , were continually suspended like the 
sword of Damocles, over their heads. To these 
also were now added the rage of inquisitors and 
of papal constitutions, through which they were 
continually exposed to sufferings and misery. In 
Sicily in particular the imperial fury raged against 
them. They were ordered to be treated with the 
greatest severity, that they might be banished, not 
only from the country, but from the earth. And 



130 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

throughout Italy, both Gregory IX. and Honorius 
IV., harrassed and oppressed them with the most 
unrelenting barbarity by means of the inquisition 
— the living were without mercy, committed to 
the hands of the executioner, their houses razed to 
the ground, their goods confiscated, and even the 
slumbering remains of the dead were dragged 
from their graves, and their bones committed to 
the flames."* 

Mr. Jones tells us that some Waldenses who 
had fled to the Netherlands to escape persecution, 
were discovered by one who had lived among 
them and professed their faith, but had apostatized. 
This man was appointed by the pope inquisitor 
general, and knowing their place of concealment, 
apprehended more than fifty of them, in the year 
1236, and caused them to be burned or buried 
alive, f 

A. D. 1330. In the year 1330, the inquisition 
followed the Waldenses to Poland. "Vignier 
mentions that when the Waldenses were driven 
from Picardy, through the violence of persecu- 
tion, several of them retired into Poland. Hence 
we find that in the year 1330, the inquisition fol- 
lowed them there and that numbers of them were 
put to death. "^ Persecutions in the south of 
France, drove the Waldenses into various coun- 
tries early in the thirteenth century, and in 1229, 

* Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 330. flbid, p. 329. Jldem. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 131 

[A. D. 1229.] they had spread themselves in great 
numbers throughout Italy. * Mr. Orchard tells us 
that in the year 1233, an innumerable multitude 
of Waldenses were burned alive in Germany, f 

Persecutions, like a hot blasting wind, now 
swept over the entire Christian world, and all the 
Waldenses suffered a common fate, without regard 
to age, sex, or station. I quote from Jones' 
-Church History as follows : l ' About the year 
1400, a violent outrage was committed upon the 
Waldenses inhabiting the valley of Pragella, in 
Piedmont, by a Catholic party residing in the 
neighborhood. The attack, which seems to have 
been of the most furious kind, was made towards 
the end of December, when the mountains were 
covered with snow, and thereby rendered so diffi- 
cult of access, that the peaceable inhabitants of 
these valleys were wholly unapprized that any 
such attempt was meditated, and the persecutors 
were in actual possession of their caves ere the 
owners seem to have been apprized of any hostile 
design against them. In this pitiable strait, they 
had resource to the only alternative which re- 
mained for saving their lives — they fled, though 
at that inauspicious season of the year, to one of 
the highest mountains of the Alps, with their 
wives and children ; the unhappy mothers carrying 

* Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 329. 
fOrchard's Bapt. Hist., p. 331. 



132 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

the cradle in one hand, and in the other, leading 
such of the offspring as were able to walk. Their 
inhuman invaders pursued them in their flight, 
until darkness obscured the objects of their fury. 
Many were slain before they could reach the 
mountains. Overtaken by the shades of night, 
these afflicted outcasts wandered up and down 
the mountains covered with snow ; destitute of the 
means of shelter from the inclemency of the 
weather, or of supporting themselves under it, by 
any of the comforts which Providence has destined 
for that purpose ; benumbed with cold, some fell 
asleep, and became an easy prey to the severity of 
the climate ; and when the night had passed away 
there were found in their cradles, or lying upon 
the snow, fourscore of their infants, deprived of 
life, many of the mothers also lying dead by their 
sides, and others just at the point of expiring. 
[A. D. 1400.] During the night their enemies 
were busily employed plundering their houses of 
everything that was valuable, which they con- 
veyed away to Susa. A poor woman belonging 
to the Waldenses, named Margaret Athode, was 
next morning found hanging to a tree."* 

Mr. Orchard says that in the year 1557, "a 
great number of Waldenses were discovered by 
inquisitors in the diocese of Eiston, in Germany, 
who were put to death. These sufferers confessed 

* Jones' Ch. Hist., pp. 357, 358. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 133 

that they had among them, in that district, twelve 
barbs, or pastors, who labored in the work of the 
ministry. It appears from what Trithemius re- 
lates, who lived at this time, that Germany was 
full of Waldenses prior to the reformation by 
Luther ; for he mentioned it as a well known fact, 
that so numerous were they, that in traveling from 
Cologne to Milan, the whole extent of Germany, 
they could lodge every night with persons of their 
own profession ; and that it was a custom among 
them to affix certain private marks to their signs 
and gates, whereby they might be known to each 
other. This is allowed by our best historians, and 
conceded by Mosheim who asserts, ' before the 
rise of Luther or Calvin, there lay concealed, in 
almost all the countries of Europe, particularly in 
Bohemia, Moravia, Switzerland and Germany, 
many persons who adhered tenaciously to the doc- 
trine of the Dutch Baptists.' "* 

A. D. I5IO. Persecutions against the Baptists 
in Germany became extremely severe, about the 
year 1510. Their practice of rebaptizing all who 
came to them from the Catholics, awakened the 
anger of the priests, who prevailed upon the au- 
thorities to press an edict that all of them should 
be put to death, without regard to age or sex. In 
consequence of these severe persecutions, Mos- 
heim says, "The Anabaptists in Germany, passed 

♦Orchard's Bap. Hist., p. 335. 



134 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

in shoals into Holland and the Netherlands, and 
in process of time amalgamated with the Dutch 
Baptists."* 

A. D. 1498. In regard to the manner of life 
and the religious practices of the Waldenses, 
about the close of the fifteenth century, Mr. 
Orchard states as follows : "Louis XII., in 1498, 
deputed two confidential servants to investigate 
and report on accusations brought against these 
people. On their return to court they said, ' Their 
places of worship were free from those ornaments 
found in Catholic churches. They discovered no 
crime, but on the contrary they keep the Sabbath 
day, observe the ordinance of baptism according 
to the primitive church (not as the Catholic 
church), instructed their children in the articles of 
Christian faith, and the commandments of God. ' 
Consequently the king understood they were in- 
nocent and an inoffensive people, and that they 
were persecuted in order that their enemies might 
possess their property. ' The first lesson the Wal- 
denses teach those whom they bring over to their 
party,' says Reiner, c is as to what kind of persons 
the disciples of Christ ought to be ; and this they 
do by the doctrines of the evangelists and apos- 
tles ; saying that those only are followers of the 
apostles who imitate their manner of life,' and 
that a man is then first baptized (i.e. rightly bap- 

*Mosheim, vol. 2, p. 134. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 135 

tized), when he is received into their society. So 
effectual was their mode of instruction, that many 
among them could retain in their memories most 
of the New Testament writings. The celebrated 
president and historian, Thuanus, says, ' They can 
all read and write, they know French sufficiently 
for the understanding of the Bible, and singing 
psalms. You can scarcely find a boy among them 
who cannot give an intelligent account of the faith 
which they profess. In this, indeed, they resemble 
their brethren of the other valleys.' "* 

A. D. HOO. As early as A. D. 1100, the reli- 
gion of the Waldenses was said to have spread 
itself in almost all parts of Europe, and the Wal- 
denses themselves were described, says Orchard, 
nearly in the following language : " If a man 
loves those that desire to love God and Jesus 
Christ, if he will neither curse nor swear, nor lie, 
nor commit lewdness, nor kill, nor deceive his 
neighbor, nor avenge himself of his enemies, they 
presently say, he is a Yaudois — he deserves to be 
punished."! 

A. D. 1315. In the beginning of the fourteenth 
century, Walter Lollard, a Dutchman, conveyed 
the doctrines of the Waldenses into England, and 
from him the Waldenses, in the localities of his 
labors, were sometimes called Lollards. He was 
a man of great learning and eloquence, and was a 

^Orchard's Bap. Hist., pp. 282, 283. flbid, p. 268. 



136 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

laborious and successful preacher among the Bap- 
tists who resided on the Khine ; but his converts 
were said to have spread over all of England. In 
1320, Walter Lollard was apprehended and 
burned.* 

I here repeat that Mosheim says : ' ' Before the 
rise of Luther or Calvin, there lay concealed, in 
almost all the countries of Europe, particularly in 
Bohemia, Moravia, Switzerland, and Germany, 
many persons who adhered tenaciously to the 
doctrine of the Dutch Baptists. "+ 

We have now found Baptists existing continu- 
ally for fifteen centuries. They have been known 
by the names of Montanists, Donatists, Novatians, 
Paterines, Puritans, Cathari, Paulicians, Petro- 
brusians, Arnoldists, Henricians, Bulgarians, Lol- 
lards, Montenses, Albigenses, Poor of Lyons, and 
Anabaptists. All of these were subsequently 
called Waldenses, but we have found the Wal- 
denses to exist prior to some of these people. 
They were all, however, characterized by the same 
principles. They all held : 

First. To the doctrine of salvation by grace. 

Second. To the independence of the churches 
and a democratic form of church government. 

Third. To freedom of conscience. 

Fourth. To equality of membership in the 
churches. 

Orchard's Bap. Hist., p. 333. flbid, p. 336. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 137 

Fifth. That the elders, or bishops, were sub- 
ject to the discipline of the local churches. 

Sixth. That believers only should be baptized. 

Seventh. Baptism by immersion only, and re- 
baptism of all who had not been baptized by 
proper authority.* 

"The Waldenses," says Orchard, "were, in a 
word, so many distinct churches of anti-Paedo- 
baptists."f These were all Baptist churches. 

Mosheim says: "The true origin of that sect 
which acquired the denomination of Anabaptists 
by their administering anew the rite of baptism 
to those who came over to their communion, is 
hidden in the depths of antiquity and is of conse- 
quence extremely difficult to be ascertained."^: 
Mosheim was a German Lutheran historian. He 
could find the origin of every other organization, 
which had an existence in his day, and trace it to 
its human head, or founder, but when he came to 
the Baptists, he could trace them to no human 
head. He could go back through the mazy cen- 
turies of the past, and find them called by one 

*"Let it be remembered that Baptists in all ages have 
rebaptized, not because Catholics did not immerse, or be- 
cause those who came from the Catholics were baptized 
in their infancy, but because they regarded all ordinances 
administered in a corrupt or anti-Scriptural organization 
to be null and void." Note in Orchard's Bap. Hist., p. 235. 
tlbid., p. 307. 
JMosheim, vol. 2, p. 127. 



138 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

name in one particular locality, perhaps after some 
man who was a distinguished leader among them, 
and in another locality they would be called by 
another name. But in attempting to find their 
origin, he finds a people, holding to identically 
the same principles existing hundreds of years be- 
fore this, and so on back to the very days of the 
apostles. Hence he says, ' ' Their origin is hidden 
in the depths of antiquity, and is of consequence 
extremely difficult to be ascertained." 

Before proceeding further with the history of 
the Baptists, it will be necessary to go back to 
notice some of the heresies and persecutions which 
gave rise to the reformation of the sixteenth cen- 
tury. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 139 

CHAPTEK XIII. 

HERESIES AND PERSECUTIONS. 

From A. D. 426 to 1500. 

Infant baptism enforced. Charles the Great forces 
baptism upon the Saxons. Pouring and sprink- 
ling instituted for baptism. Image worship. 
Feasts of the Ass and Fools. Transubstantia- 
tion. Infant communion. Persecutions under 
the Greek empress, Theodora. The Greek Church. 
Trine immersion. Corruptions of the Greek and 
Romish clergy. Papal Power. Henry IV., of 
Germany, at the gate of Pope Gregory VII 

¥ERY early in the history of Christianity, as 
has already been observed, heresies of dif- 
ferent kinds commenced to creep into the churches. 
The true churches being independent of each 
other, in their organization and government, were 
but little affected by these heresies. Some of the 
churches, however, soon lost their independent 
form, and several combining together formed 
synods. A number of churches formed a single 
diocese and were under the control of one bishop. 
When these churches forming a single diocese 
became corrupted by false doctrine, or when the 
bishop begun to preach heretical doctrines, the 
whole diocese became corrupt. In this way came 



140 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

about the centralization of power which finally 
resulted in the establishment of popery. 

A. D. 416. Just as soon as the Catholics ob- 
tained sufficient influence and power, they com- 
menced enforcing baptism, first by curses, and 
afterwards by might. In the Council at Carthage,, 
in the year 416, the Catholics passed the follow- 
ing edict : ' s We will that whosoever denies that 
little children, by baptism are freed from perdition 
and eternally saved, that they be accursed. "* 
This curse was not simply intended for those who 
refused baptism to their children, but was pro- 
nounced against all who denied, or refused to be- 
lieve, that children were saved by baptism. 

A. D. 565. The Catholics were not long in 
taking another step in the same direction. State 
and church were combined and what the church 
decreed the emperor enforced. Emperor Justinian 
reigned from A. D. 527 to 565. During his reign 
he passed an edict declaring, "That such parents 
as were yet unbaptized should present themselves, 
with their wives and children, and all that apper- 
tained to them in the church ; and there they 
should cause their little ones immediately to be 
baptized, and the rest as soon as they were taught 
the Scriptures according to the canons, "f 

A. D. 604. Boniface III., was the first pope 
who assumed universal power, and the first pope in 

*Cramp's Bap. Hist., p. 53. flbid. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 141 

succession. Gregory, the Great, who was the 
predecessor of Boniface, had declared that " who- 
soever adopts, or affects, the title of Universal 
Bishop, has the pride and character of Antichrist, 
and is in some manner his forerunner."* Gregory 
died in A. D. 604, and was succeeded by Boniface 
III., who had no scruples about accepting the 
title, but rather importunately begged it from the 
emperor, Phocas, with the privilege also of trans- 
mitting it to all his successors. The Church of 
Rome was at the same time declared, by the em- 
peror, to be the head of all other churches. 

On the death of Pepin, king of France, in the 
year 768, his dominions were divided between his 
two sons, Charles and Carloman. The latter died 
two years later, and Charles became sole monarch 
of that country. Charles, or Charlemagne, as he 
is usually called, conceived the idea of subduing 
the Saxons, and forcing them to embrace Chris- 
tianity. Mr. Orchard says of Charlemagne : ' c He 
resolved on subduing the Saxons, who were 
pagans, and inhabited a great part of Germany, 
but this he found impracticable. In the end his 
imperial majesty proposed to the whole nation the 
dreadful alternative, either of being assassinated 
by the troops, or of accepting life on condition of 
professing themselves Christians by being bap- 
tized. * * * They were obliged, on pain of 

* Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 183. 



142 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

death, to be baptized themselves, and of heavy 
fines to baptize their children within the year of 
their birth.' '* 

This was in the year 789. The penalties for 
neglecting to have their children baptized were as 
follows : A nobleman was fined 120 shillings ; a 
gentleman 60 shillings ; other persons 30 shillings. 
These were heavy fines, for the price of a good 
sheep at that time, says Mr. Cramp, was one 
shilling. Only think of having to pay the price 
of one hundred and twenty sheep for neglecting, 
or refusing, to have an infant baptized within one 
year of its birth ! Baptists have always contended 
for freedom of conscience. 

The first record we have of pouring as having 
been administered for baptism, if we except the 
case of Novatian, was in the year 754. Mr. 
Orchard, quoting a French historian, Mezeray, 
says: "Baptism remained in the Catholic church 
the same and was performed by dipping or plung- 
ing, not by throwing or sprinkling. Stephen, the 
pontiff in 754, gave his opinion that if children 
were sickly, pouring should in such cases, of ne- 
cessity, be valid baptism ; but ordinarily it was 
administered by three dippings, "f It will be ob- 
served that pouring was administered for baptism 

♦Orchard's Bap. Hist., pp. 169, 170. 
tSee Orchard's Bap. Hist., p. 170, at bottom. Also 
Hinton's History of Baptism, p. 192. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 14:3 

only in ' ' cases of necessity, ' ' the Catholics deem- 
ing baptism necessary to salvation. This is the 
first instance where the pope claimed the right to 
change an ordinance. 

Immersion continued to be practiced in the ad- 
ministration of baptism, only in exceptional cases 
even by the Catholics, until the year 1311, when 
in their council at Ravenna, they allowed a free 
choice for the first time between immersion, 
sprinkling or pouring for baptism.* It is proper 
to state that the Catholics do not defend the prac- 
tice of sprinkling and pouring for baptism from 
the Scriptures, but wholly on the ground that they 
have a right to change the ordinances ; that the 
church is above the Bible in authority. 

When Constantine, the Great, embraced Chris- 
tianity, and took it under his protective power, he 
blended it with the idolatrous worship of pagans. 
Under him, and by his direction, the Catholic 
churches were filled with costly pictures and 
images. These soon came to be worshipped in- 
stead of the true God. About the beginning of 
the eighth century Leo, the Greek emperor, who 
reigned at Constantinople, openly opposed the 
worship of images. The pope replied to him and 
said : ' c The eyes of the nations are fixed on our 
humility and they revere as a God upon earth, the 

*Hinton's History of Baptism, p. 192. 



144 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

apostle, Saint Peter, whose image you threaten to 
destroy."* 

A. D. 713. As early as 713, the practice of 
praying for the intercession of saints was common. 
The pope said it was not the image which they 
worshipped, but it made them remember the per- 
sons whose names they bore. "If," said he, "it 
be the image of Jesus, we say, Lord help us. If 
it be the image of his mother, we say, Pray to 
your Son to hel^ us. If it be a martyr, we say, 
St. Stephen, pray for us. "f 

A. D. 610. Before this time, or as early as 
610, the Catholics had what they termed the 
Feasts of the Ass and Fools, which it is necessary 
to mention in order to show how they had ren- 
dered everything in religion ridiculous and ex- 
travagant, and how nearly they were allied with 
the heathens in their manner of worship. Mr. 
Jones says : "In several churches of France, a 
festival was celebrated in commemoration of the 
Yirgin Mary's flight into Egypt. It was called 
the Feast of the Ass. A young girl, richly dressed, 
with a child in her arms, was placed upon an ass 
superbly decorated with trappings. The ass was 
led to the altar in solemn procession — high mass 
was said with great pomp — the ass was taught to 
kneel at proper places — a hymn, no less childish 
than impious, was sung in his praise ; and when 

*Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 190. flbid, p. 191. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 145 

the ceremony was ended, the priest, instead of the 
usual words with which he dismissed the people, 
brayed three times like an ass ; and the people, 
instead of the usual response, brayed three times 
in return. The festivals of Fools and Asses were 
established in most churches. On days of solem- 
nity, they created a bishop of fools ; and an ass 
was led into the body of the church, dressed in a 
cape and a four-cornered cap. Church dances, 
feastings on the altar, revelry and^>bscene farces 
were the ceremonies observed on those festivals, 
and in many dioceses these extravagancies were 
continued for seven centuries."* 

The people were taught at that time, as they 
now are by the Catholics, that it was not lawful 
for them to read the Bible, but for priests only, 
and if we are to judge by the teachings and con- 
duct of the priests, we must conclude that they read 
it no more than did the people. One class was as 
corrupt as the other. 

A. D. 780. About the year 780, the doctrine 
of transubstantiation begun to prevail. This means 
that the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper is 
transformed, or changed, into the actual body and 
blood of Christ. The Catholics taught, and do 
now, that the partaking of the Lord's Supper was 
essential to salvation, thus attaching to it a saving 
efficacy. Hence they called it the sacrament of 

*Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 201. 



146 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

the Lord's Supper. This false idea gave rise to 
its abuses, and it was taken to the sick chamber 
and administered to the dying. It was then given 
to infants in the belief that it was essential to their 
salvation. In commenting upon the passage, 
1 ' Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and 
drink his blood ye have no life in you," Augus- 
tine said, "And dare any one be so bold as to say, 
that this sentence does not appertain to little chil- 
dren, or that they can have life without partaking 
of this body and this blood."* 

This practice of giving the Lord's Supper to in- 
fants continued in the Catholic church for many 
centuries, says Hinton, until the Council of Trent 
abrogated the practice. That the custom of giving 
the Lord's Supper applied to real infants is seen 
from the following: "In Gregory's Sacramen- 
tarum, there is an order 'that infants be allowed 
to suck the breast before the holy communion, if 
necessity so required.' "f Mr. Hinton assigns as 
a reason why infant communion was abandoned 
that ' ' the babes would sometimes spit out the sop 
(for the bread was sopped in the wine) to the great 
consternation of believers in transubstantiation. 
To obviate this the bread was taken away from 
the infant, and the priest dipped his finger in the 
cup and put it in the babe's mouth, (as is the 
practice in the Greek church to this day). But 

*Hinton's History of Baptism, p. 328. fldem. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 147 

when the cup came to be taken from the laity, in 
the Romish church, then the babes were deprived 
of the Lord's Supper."* 

Towards the end of the eighth century the doc- 
trine of the Paulicians became very widely dis- 
seminated throughout the East, and towards the 
middle of the ninth they had become so numer- 
ous, that extreme measures were resorted to for 
their suppression. The influence of the Greek 
empress, Theodora, was engaged for the accom- 
plishment of this end. In the year 845, "Her 
decrees were severe, but the cruelty with which 
they were put into execution by her officers were 
horrible beyond expression. Mountains and hills 
were covered with inhabitants. Her sanguinary 
inquisitors explored cities and mountains in Lesser 
Asia. After confiscating the goods and property 
of one hundred thousand of these people, the 
owners to that number were put to death in the 
most barbarous manner, and made to expire slowly 
under a variety of the most exquisite tortures, "f 

A. D. 850. About the middle of the ninth cen- 
tury a schism occurred in the Catholic church, 
growing more out of jealousy and ambition than 
other causes. This breach was apparently healed 
in 869, but broke out again later and finally cul- 
minated in a final separation, which gave rise to 

*Hinton's History of Baptism, p. 330. 
-(-Orchard's Bap. Hist., p. 137. 



148 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

the two churches known as the Greek Catholic 
church and the Roman Catholic church. The 
Greek church is known in history as the Eastern 
church, while the Roman is known by the names 
Latin or Western church. Dr. Ford says: "The 
contests and rivalries between these two divisions 
of an apostate, monarchical church, continued till 
their final separation, July, A. D. 1054, when after 
[A. D. 1054.] the pope of Constantinople had ex- 
communicated the pope of Rome and his adhe- 
rents, the pope of Rome excommunicated him and 
his, and from that date the Roman Catholic church 
was born, and was a sect distinct from the Greek 
Catholic church."* 

The Greek church still administers baptism by 
immersing the subject three times in water. This 
is what is known as trine immersion. Such was 
also the practice of the Roman Catholic church at 
the time the division occurred, and continued to 
be for several centuries later. The Greeks prac- 
tice infant baptism, but administer it as they do to 
adults, by trine immersion. 

This organization is very strong in the East, 
and have very recently paid their respects to the 
Baptists by declaring in one of their synods their 
purpose to persecute them in Southern Russia, f 

*Ford's Christian Repository, June, 1891. 
fNOTE. — During this year, 1891, many Baptists have 
been banished from the Caucasus and other parts of Rus- 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 149 

The Greek clergy had the character in the tenth 
century, as having been as corrupt as the Romish. 
With regard to the corruption of the Romish 
clergy at this time the learned Mosheim says : 
" It is a history of so many monsters, and not of 
men ; and exhibits a horrible series of the most 
flagitious, tremendous, and complicated crimes, as 
all writers, even those of the Romish communion 
unanimously confess."* 

Orchard says of the same: "The clergy were 
not only ignorant, but they were adulterers and 
sodomites; and so avaricious as to sell anything for 
money. Their illegitimate children were provided 
for out of the revenues of the church ; but they 
could not be supported without proving their con- 
nexion and membership, which was established by 
baptism. This urgency pushed forward baptism 
from minors to infants, "f 

The church of Rome had already declared itself 
to be the head of all other churches. The bishops 

sia, after having been deprived of their children. These 
children were taken from them to be raised in the Greek 
church. The same thing was done by Roman Catholics 
in 1686. The correspondent of the London Clironicle says : 
' ' The Kieff Baptists recently banished to Transcaucasia 
started three days ago on their long journey, under mili- 
tary escort, in prison clothes, chained and in company 
with 150 criminals." — Western Recorder. 

*Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 220. 

tOrchard's Bapt. Hist., p. 144 — Note. 



150 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

now sought to bring the whole of Europe into 
subjection to their will, and to take from its peo- 
ple — from the emperor to the poorest subject — 
every vestige of civil and religious liberty. Mr. 
Jones says: "About the year 877, Pope John 
VIII. convened a council at Troyes, in France, 
one of the canons of which is sufficiently remark- 
able to be adduced as a specimen of the spirit of 
the times. It expressly asserts that ' the powers of 
the world shall not dare to seat themselves in the 
presence of the bishops unless desired.' "* The 
pope of Rome was now more powerful than the 
emperor. 

A little earlier than this, or in the year 822, the 
pope of Rome became disaffected towards the em- 
peror. He encouraged the emperor's sons in a 
rebellion against their father. Gregory IV. being 
at that time pope of Rome, went to France, in the 
army of Lothaire, the eldest son, and succeeded 
in deposing the emperor. Mr. Jones says: "He 
was deposed in a tremendous assembly, and Lo- 
thaire proclaimed in his stead ; after which in- 
famous transaction, the pope returned to Rome, "f 

Gregory VIII. came to the pontifical chair in 
the year 1073. Each succeeding pope seemed to 
have increased in power over his predecessor, and 

*Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 220. 
t Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 218. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 151 

this Gregory appears to have reached the climax, 
for there was no limit to his ambition. Indeed he 
held the sceptre of a monarch, and kings and em- 
perors were alike subject to his will. He engaged 
the Catholic church in open war with all the 
sovereigns of Europe, and especially Henry IY., 
of Germany, and endeavored to render them 
tributary to his will. Becoming displeased with 
the conduct of Henry, the pope convened a coun- 
cil in the presence of which he made this declara- 
tion : "In the name of Almighty God, and by 
your authority," said Gregory, addressing the 
members of the council, "I prohibit Henry from 
governing the Teutonic kingdom and Italy. I 
release all Christians from their oath of allegiance 
to him ; and I strictly forbid all persons to serve 
or attend him as king. "* 

In a letter to Solomon, king of Hungary, this 
same Gregory wrote : ' ' You ought to know, that 
the kingdom of Hungary belongs to the Koman 
church ; and learn, that you will incur the indig- 
nation of the holy see, if you do not acknowledge 
that you hold your dominions of the pope and not 
of the emperor, "f 

This presumptuous declaration, and the neglect 
with which it was treated, says Mr. Jones, brought 
the quarrel between the empire and the church to 

*Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 222. fldem. 



152 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

a crisis : it was directed to Solomon, but intended 
for Henry. 

Smarting under the indignity which had been 
inflicted upon him by the pope, and feeling that 
his power had been shorn from him, the emperor 
of Germany determined to cast himself at the feet 
of the pope, and seek the restoration of his favor. 
Mr. Jones gives us the following account of the 
interview : " To avoid the odium of the impending 
trial, Henry took the strange resolution of sud- 
denly passing the Alps, accompanied only by a 
few domestics, and of throwing himself at the feet 
of Gregory, in order to implore his absolution. 
The pontiff was at that time on a visit to the 
Countess or Duchess Matilda, at Canosa, a for- 
tress on the Appenines. At the gate of this man- 
sion the emperor presented himself, as an humble 
penitent. He also was admitted within the outer 
court, where being stripped of his robes, and 
wrapped in sack cloth, he was compelled to remain 
three days in the month of January (A. D. 1077), 
barefoot and fasting, before he was permitted to 
kiss the feet of his holiness ! ! The indulgence 
was, however, at length granted him — he was per- 
mitted to throw himself at the feet of the haughty 
pontiff, who condescended to grant him absolu- 
tion, after he had sworn obedience to the pope in 
all things, and promised to submit to his solemn 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 153 

decision at Augsburg ; so that Henry reaped 
nothing but disgrace and mortification from his 
journey, while the pontiff, elate with triumph, and 
now considering himself as lord and master of all 
the crowned heads in Christendom, said in several 
of his letters, that it was his duty to pull down the 
pride of kings."* 

Such were the indignities of the Roman Catholic 
church, " Mother of the Faithful ! " 

*Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 223 



154 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

HERESIES AND PERSECUTIONS-Continued. 

Raymond, count of Toulouse, whipped in his shirt 
by a cardinal. Corruptions of the Catholic 
clergy. Baptism of foetus in utero. Baptism 
of dead infants. Baptism of Gen. Grant, by 
Dr. Newman. Baptism of a dead body. Bap- 
tism forced upon the Zivonians. Catholics try 
to force communion upon Baptists. Belief of 
the doctrine of transubstantiation required by the 
court of Rome. Persecutions of the Albigenses. 
Papal Power. Louis VII of France and 
Henry II. of England act as grooms to the pope. 
Horrid massacre at Beziers. Frederick II of 
Germany deprived of his crown by the pope of 
Rome. 

IT would seem that the indignities visited by a 
ruler upon one of his honored subjects, could 
not be greater than the one which has just been 
narrated, much less could it be perpetrated by one 
claiming, as does the pope, to be God's vicegerent 
upon earth. Raymond VI., count of Toulouse, 
however, was subjected to a still more humiliating 
punishment. 

The Albigenses abounded very largely in the 
territories of this count, and he extended to them 
his protection and patronage. He was even 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 155 

charged with having imbibed some of their views. 
This aroused the indignation of the Catholics 
against him, and he was excommunicated by the 
pope. Not long after this one of the inquisitors 
was assassinated, and Count Raymond was accused 
of being accessory to the crime. The Count pro- 
tested his innocence, but the Catholic party was 
enraged, and in a little time an army of one hun- 
dred thousand crusaders was raised to march 
against him. 

The Count was alarmed and offered to submit, 
promising obedience, and actually delivered into 
the hands of the pope seven fortified places in 
Provence. c 4 He submitted to the most humiliating 
penance. He repaired with his feet naked, and 
with only his shirt and trousers to the church at 
Notre Dame, at Paris, where a cardinal, after ad- 
ministering the discipline upon his naked back, 
conducted him to the foot of the grand altar, and 
on account of his humility and devotion, he pro- 
nounced absolution, on condition of fulfilling his 
treaty at Paris. "* 

Mr. Jones states that "he was so severely 
whipped that he was unable to go out by the way 
in which he entered the church, but was forced to 
pass quite naked as he was, through the lower 
gate." u O disgrace of Rome! O disgrace of 

^Orchard's Bapt. Hist., p. 224. 



156 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

human nature ! For we can utter no reproach 
against Rome that does not recoil on man himself. 
Rome is human nature exalted in some of its worst 
propensities. We say this that we may speak the 
truth. We say it also that we may be just." — 
JPAubigne. 

The church of Rome was now stagnant with 
pollutions, and there was no iniquity in which it 
had not steeped itself, and yet it claimed to be the 
church of Christ ! 

Mr. Orchard says : "Luxury, covetousness, and 
adultery universally prevailed among the Catholic 
clergy. Prelates habited in purple robes and 
gold, converted nunneries into stews, and parks 
&nd mansions were had for seraglios. They were 
awfully wicked in Italy; cures and sinecures were 
provided for their children. Presbyters were com- 
mon at twelve years of age and boys were bishops. 
We have seen that solicitude on the part of par- 
ents for the welfare of their offspring, with the 
Alexandrian school, first led to youths' baptism. 
Infant pollutions were understood to be removed 
by water baptism, and the ordinance was the only 
means of saving the soul from purgatory. The 
importance now attached to baptism required the 
priest to attend every woman in labor, but the 
plan was further matured, by inventing various 
instruments and different distilled waters for the 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 157 

foetus in utero. Abortives and dead bodies re- 
ceived the sanctified liquid."* 

A. D. 1050. This was about the middle of the 
eleventh century. c ' These corruptions were seen, " 
says Mr. Orchard, ' ' in the discovery of six thou- 
sand heads of infants in a warren near a religious 
nunnery, and until this exposing period the Catho- 
lics had baptized men, women and children in the 
fonts, quite naked, while others had their children 
disinterred and baptized in the Father's name."f 

This was about the middle of the twelfth cen- 
tury. A nunnery is no place for infants, and how 
these came there, only those who know how such 
things are carried on in Catholic countries, can 
surmise. 

Just what good it could do to baptize a dead 
body, or one who is in a dying condition, only 
those who practice it can tell. Dr. Newman, a 
Methodist minister, sprinkled General Grant just 
before he expired, and while the General was in 
a comatose condition, using this formula : "I bap- 
tize thee, Ulysses Simpson Grant, in the name of 
the Father, Son and Holy Ghost." Perhaps Dr. 
Newman, or some other prominent Methodist can 
tell us whether this was done in order to salvation. 
Only a few years ago a young lady in Georgia 
made a profession of religion and united with the 

*Orchard's Bap. Hist., p. 148— Note. 
tlbid, p. 151— Note. 



158 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

Methodists. She was to have been baptized on 
the Sabbath following. In the mean time she 
took sick and died, and on the Sabbath she was 
buried. As her body lay in the coffin a Methodist 
minister pronounced the formula of baptism over 
her body and sprinkled it with water. 

While we cannot and would not hold an entire 
denomination responsible for the erratic views and 
practices of a few, I ask is this doctrine of baptis- 
mal regeneration taught in Methodist theology, 
and how came they by it ? Was it not because they 
came from the corrupt fountain of Romanism, and 
"can a corrupt stream send forth pure water? " 

Mosheim tells us that in 1198, an effort was 
made to force baptism upon the Livonians, by the 
authority of Pope Innocent III. "The bishop 
marched into that province at the head of a 
powerful army which he had raised in Saxony, 
preached the gospel, sword in hand, and proved 
its truth by blows instead of argument * * * 
He was commissioned to dragoon the Livonians 
into the profession of Christianity, and oblige 
them by force of arms to receive the benefits of 
baptism."* What "benefits, I ask, could come from 
baptism administered in this way? 

A. D. 1600. In the year 1600, an effort was 
made by the Catholics to force Baptists to their 
communion. Accordingly the Catholic clergy se- 

*Mosheim, vol. 1, p. 298. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 159 

cured from Uladislaus, king of Bohemia, much 
against his will, however, an edict prohibiting the 
Baptists from '* holding any religious assemblies, 
public or private ; commanded that their meeting 
houses should all be shut up ; that they should not 
be allowed either to preach or print ; and that 
within a given time they should all hold religious 
communion with either the Calixtines or Catho- 
lics."* 

Mr. Ray says not long after the passage of this 
cruel edict, some of these Waldenses were com- 
mitted to the flames, because they would neither 
commune with the Catholics, nor with those who 
did commune with Rome. 

It has already been observed that the doctrine 
of transubstantiation originated in 780. In the 
twelfth century a belief of this doctrine was re- 
quired, by the court of Rome, to be acknowledged 
by all men, and men fell down before the conse- 
crated wafer and worshipped it as God.f This act 
was as idolatrous as is the worship of a Hindoo 
idol. It made any one's salvation depend upon his 
having partaken of what Catholics term the sacra- 
ment of the Lord's Supper. Hence you hear of 
the sacraments of the Lord's Supper and of Bap- 
tism. With Baptists these are not sacraments, 
and should never be so termed. 

*Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 353. flbid, p. 258. 



160 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

A. D. 1163. In 1163, we find that severe per- 
secutions are visited upon the Albigenses in the 
South of France. Having been driven from Lyons 
by persecutions, the followers of Peter Waldo had 
spread all over this region, and fresh measures 
were adopted for their suppression. Accordingly 
a synod was convened at Tours, a city of France, 
at which all the bishops and priests in the country 
of Toulouse were strictly enjoined "to take care 
and to forbid, under pain of excommunication, 
every person from presuming to give reception, 
or the least assistance to the followers of this 
heresy; to have no dealings with them in buying 
or selling, that thus being deprived of the com- 
mon necessaries of life, they might be compelled 
to repent of the evil of their way."* 

A. D. 1194. These persecutions drove many of 
the friends of Waldo to seek homes in the valleys 
of Piedmont, while others proceeded to Bohemia, 
and still others to Spain. In the year 1194, in 
consequence of some of the Waldenses coming 
into the province of Arragon, says Jones, King 
Idlefonsus issued a severe and bloody edict, by 
which "he banished them from his kingdom and 
all his dominions, as enemies to the cross of 
Christ, profaners of the Christian religion, and 
public enemies to himself and kingdom, "f 

*Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 306. flbid. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 161 

A. D. 1200. Mr. Jones says, notwithstanding 
these inhuman proceedings, both in France and 
Spain, that in the year 1200, both the city of 
Toulouse, and eighteen other principal towns in 
Languedoc, Provence and Dauphine, were filled 
with Waldenses and Albigenses. 

Such was the influence of the pope of Rome 
over the crowned heads at this time, that they 
were powerless to afford any protection to their 
subjects, who held to the Albigensean or Wal- 
densean faith, even if they had so desired. The 
pope himself was more powerful than all the 
emperors combined. Orchard says that "Louis 
VII., of France, and Henry II. , of England, be- 
came equerries to the pope, holding the bridle of 
his horse, and afterwards walking, one on the one 
side of him, and the other on the other as royal 
grooms to his holiness."* Only think of it ! One 
claiming to be a servant and minister of the meek 
and lowly Jesus, and one commanded by him to 
be subject to those in authority over him, requir- 
ing, or even permitting such acts upon the part 
of crowned heads ! 

I am here reminded of King David, when se- 
cluded in the cave of Adullam, three of his men 
came to him and "he longed and said, Oh that 
one would give me to drink of the water of the 
well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate. And 
*Orchard's Bapt. Hist., p. 203. 



162 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

the three mighty men broke through the hosts of 
the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of 
Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it and 
brought it to David ; nevertheless he would not 
drink thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord. 
And he said, be it far from me, O Lord, that I 
should do this ; is not this the blood of the men 
that went in jeopardy of their lives? Therefore he 
would not drink. "* 

How striking too, the contrast between the con- 
duct of this haughty pope, and that of a colored 
Baptist preacher, who attended a convention of 
our white brethren in the South a few years ago. 
When he arrived he was sick and burning with 
fever. He asked for a drink of water and some 
one brought him a refreshing draught. The col- 
ored preacher asked the name of the one who so 
tenderly ministered to his needs, and he was told 
that it was the governor of the State. The colored 
brother was so struck with this act of Christian 
love that he declared he would not drink it, but 
like David, he poured it out upon the ground, as 
he said, " as an oblation before the Lord." Judge 
you between the pope of Rome and this humble 
man, which was the servant of God ! 

A. D. 1206. We have an account of a horrid 
massacre in the city of Beziers, by the Catholics, 
in the year 1206. Two hundred thousand "here- 
" *2d Sam. 23:13-17. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 163 

tics" were massacred in a few months. These 
heretics were Albigenses, with their sympathizers. 
Afterwards the city of Beziers was besieged and 
taken, and the Catholics destroyed three hundred 
and twenty thousand lives, without regard to re- 
ligious profession, age or sex, and afterwards 
destroyed the city by fire. 

When the crusaders entered the city, knowing 
that there were many Catholics mixed with the 
heretics, they hesitated as to how they should act 
with regard to the former, and application was 
made to Arnold, the Abbe of Cisteaux, for advice. 
He instantly replied, "Kill them all — the Lord 
knoweth them that are his."* 

A. D. 1209. In the year 1209, an army of 
from three to five hundred thousand men was' 
raised to suppress the Waldenses, and salvation 
was offered to all who would engage in this war. 
And in 1216, an inquisition was established by 
Dominic, who called to his aid every civil magis- 
trate and Catholic prince to take arms against the 
heretics (Waldenses) and "destroy their very 
memory." They were commanded to brand, im- 
prison, and subject the Waldenses to all manner 
of tortures. Dominic was made inquisitor general 
by the pope, and all this was done in the name of 
Christianity ! ! 

* Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 312. 



164 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

All Spain was now under the gloom of des- 
potism and the shadow of the inquisition. Mr. 
Jones says that millions of persons were ruined 
by this horrible court.* We thus see the Walden- 
sean period gradually drawing to a close, and the 
true witnesses giving up their lives when they 
have testified. 

A. D. 1224. In the year 1224, Frederick II., 
emperor of Kome, issued his edicts against Puri- 
tans, Paterines, Lyonists, Arnoldists, Albigenses, 
Waldenses, etc. 

These people were condemned by Frederick to 
perpetual infamy, and his curses even fell upon 
their children. No one was allowed to answer for 
them, but they must be compelled to answer for 
others. They were not allowed to make a will, or 
to own any property, and their houses were to be 
destroyed, f 

A. D. 1245. In the year 1245, we again find 
the pope manifesting his power, in an effort to 
deprive Frederick II., of Germany, of his crown. 
In this year, Pope Innocent IV., convened the 
famous Council of Lyons, concerning which the 
following inscription is preserved in the Vatican 
Library in Rome. ' ; The thirteenth general coun- 
cil, and the first of Lyons : Frederick II. is there 
declared an enemy to the church and deprived of 
the imperial diadem. "J 

*Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 304. flbid, p. 301. litem, p. 326. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 165 

It was under this pope, Innocent III., that the 
two hundred thousand Albigenses were put to 
death, in the space of a few months, and his acts 
were so flagrantly wicked, that Mr. Jones calls 
him Satan incarnate. 

Such was the state of Christianity, as I have 
described it, at the dawn of the reformation of the 
sixteenth century. On the one hand were the 
Waldenses, seeking retirement from their enemies 
in the valleys of Piedmont, and the secluded 
places in Switzerland, Germany and France, with 
their defenceless women and children, only asking 
that they might worship God in peace, without 
being molested. On the other hand was the tri- 
umphant march of Romanism, seeking to subject 
all men to its faith, or else bury them in eternal 
forgetfulness. One or the other of these people 
were the true witnesses of Christ. I ask the 
reader, in all candor, which one was it? 



166 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTOBY. 



CHAPTEK XY. 

KEFOKMATION OF THE SIXTEENTH 
CENTURY. 

Causes which gave rise to the Reformation. Some of 
the doctrines and practices of the Romish church. 
Mass. Indulgences. TetzeVs indulgences. The 
Confessional. The end justifies the means. Cor- 
ruptions of priests. Intolerance of Romanism. 
Declarations of priests and papers. Martin Luther. 
Ulric Zwingle. The Reformed church. John 
Calvin. The spirit of persecution. Baptists not 
Protestants. Diet of Spires. Protests. Waldenses 
form a junction with Calvin's church at Geneva. 
Ancient and Modern Waldenses. TJie Inquisition. 
The Munster riots. 

"And there came one of the seven angels which had 
the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, 
Come hither ; I will show unto thee the judgment of the 
great whore that sitteth upon many waters ; with whom 
the kings of the earth have committed fornication. So 
he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness ; and 
I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of 
names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 
And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet-color, 
and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, 
having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and 
filthiness of her fornication. And upon her forehead was 
a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, 
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 167 

OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with 
the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs 
of Jesus ; and when I saw her, I wondered with great ad- 
miration."— Rey. 17:1-6. 

"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come 
out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her 
sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues, for her sins 
have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered 
her iniquities." — Rev. 18:4,5. 

"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and 
judgment was given unto them ; and I saw the souls of 
them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for 
the word of God, and which had not worshipped the 
beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark 
upon their foreheads, nor in their hands ; and they lived 
and reigned with Christ a thousand years." — Rev. 20:4. 

THE events which gave rise to the reformation 
of the sixteenth century, and the results of 
that reformation, are so intimately connected with 
the history of the Baptists, that it is necessary to 
devote one chapter, at least, to this subject before 
proceeding with the remaining history of the 
Waldenses. Notwithstanding what has already 
been said in regard to the persecutions and here- 
sies, which originated in the Romish church, a 
brief statement of some of her corrupt doctrines, 
will enable the reader the better to judge whether 
the Catholic church is the ''MYSTERY, BABY- 
LON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HAR- 
LOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE 
EARTH." 



168 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

The first of the corrupt doctrines, or practices, 
to which I wish to call attention is their masses. 
Mass is defined in the church of Rome, as "the 
office or prayers used in the celebration of the 
Lord's Supper ; or, in other words, consecrating 
the bread and wine into the body and blood of 
Christ, and offering them so transubstantiated, as 
an expiatory sacrifice for the quick and the dead. 
The general division of the masses consists in 
high and low. The first is sung by the choristers, 
and celebrated with the assistance of a deacon and 
sub-deacon ; low masses are those in which the 
prayers are barely rehearsed without singing." 
There are, however, a great many masses in the 
Catholic church, and they are adapted to almost 
all occasions, to suit the convenience and occa- 
sion of its dignitaries. 

The granting of indulgences is another practice 
of the Catholic church, as it can hardly be called 
a doctrine, and is nearly allied to mass. The dif- 
ference primarily was that indulgences were 
granted, most generally, for the living, while 
masses were usually said for the dead. 

In the year 1517, a man by the name of Tetzel 
obtained permission from the pope to sell indul- 
gences in Germany. He is represented by 
D'Aubigne as having been a very corrupt and im- 
moral man. He carried about with him a red 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 169 

cross, which he erected in the presence of his 
audiences. A few extracts from some of his ha- 
rangues are here given. 

u Indulgences, " said he, "are the most pre- 
cious and the most noble of God's gifts. This 
cross," pointing to the red cross, "has as much 
efficacy as the very cross of Jesus Christ. Come 
and I will give you letters, all properly sealed, by 
which the sins that you intend to commit may be 
pardoned. I would not change my privileges for 
those of St. Peter in heaven ; for I have saved 
more souls by my indulgences than the apostle by 
his sermons. There is no sin so great that an in- 
dulgence cannot remit : even if any one (which 
is doubtless impossible) had offered violence to 
the blessed Virgin Mary, mother of God, let him 
pay — only let him pay well, and all will be for- 
given him. Reflect then, that for every mortal 
sin you must, after confession and contrition, do 
penance for seven years, either in this life or in 
purgatory; now how many mortal sins are there 
not committed in a day, how many in a week, 
how many in a month, how many in a year, how 
many in a whole life ? Alas ! These sins are 
almost infinite, and they entail an infinite penalty 
in the fires of purgatory. And now by means 
of these letters of indulgences, you can once 
in your life, in every case except four which are 



170 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

reserved for the apostolic see, and afterwards in 
the article of death, obtain a plenary remission 
of all your penalties and all your sins." Tetzel 
then passed to another subject. "But more than 
this," said he, " indulgences avail not only for 
the living, but for the dead. For that repentance 
is not even necessary. Priest ! Noble ! Merchant ! 
Wife ! Youth ! Maiden ! Do you not hear your 
parents and your other friends who are dead, and 
who cry from the bottom of the abyss : We are 
suffering horrible torments ! A trifling alms would 
deliver us ; you can give it and you will not ! At 
the very instant," continued Tetzel, "that the 
money rattles at the bottom of the chest, the soul 
escapes from purgatory and flies liberated to 
heaven. * * * The Lord, our God, no longer 
reigns. He has resigned all power to the pope." 
The people were superstitious and had been long 
taught that "the church" was above the Bible, 
and the pope above God himself, so they hastened 
to respond to Tetzel's calls. A part of the sales 
of the indulgences went to fill the pope's coffers, 
and Tetzel had to divide with his companions. 
"He was about to leave with a well filled purse," 
says D'Aubigne, "when the chaplains and their 
acolytes asked him for a farewell supper. The 
request was just, but how contrive it? The money 
was already counted and sealed up. On the mor- 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 17 1 

row he caused the great bell to be tolled. The 
crowd rushed into the church ; each one imagined 
something extraordinary had happened, seeing 
that the business was over. "I had resolved," 
said he, ' ' to depart this morning ; but last night 
I was awakened by groans. I listened attentively. 
They came from the cemetery. Alas ! It was 
some poor soul calling upon me and earnestly en- 
treating me to deliver it from the torments by 
which it is consumed ! I shall stay, therefore, one 
day longer, in order to move the compassion of 
all Christian hearts in favor of this unhappy soul. 
I myself will be the first to give, and he that does 
not follow my example will merit condemnation." 
What heart would not have replied to this appeal ? 
Who knows besides, what soul it is thus crying 
from the cemetery ? The offerings were abundant 
and Tetzel entertained the chaplains and their 
acolytes with a joyous repast, the expense of 
which was defrayed with the offerings given in 
behalf of the soul of Zwickau."* 

It will be seen that indulgences license crime, 
for if a person intends to commit any crime, he 
could by this means get forgiveness before the 
deed was committed. Who will say that life, 
person or property would be safe where such a 
faith is promulgated ! ' ; For particular sins Tetzel 
had a particular tax. For polygamy, it was six 

*D'Aubigne's Hist. Reformation, vol. 1, pp. 241, 250. 



172 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

ducats ; for murder, eight ducats ; for witchcraft, 
two ducats."* 

The Catholics believed at that time, as they now 
do, in a purgatory where the souls of the dead are 
kept until punished sufficiently for their sins, or 
until paid out by indulgences, and the rich or poor 
continue to pay just as long as the priests see 
proper to exact money from them. 

The Catholics worshipped images of saints with 
as much devotion as they would worship the true 
Ood. Indeed the worship of God was lost in the 
•adoration they gave to Mary, the apostles and 
•other so-called saints, to say nothing of the pope 
himself. 

The belief of the doctrine of transubstantiation, 
they regarded as essential to salvation, and it was 
required by the Court of Rome. The priests were 
the most corrupt of men, and there was no crime, 
however great, which they would not commit to 
gratify their ambition or to satisfy their lusts. 
The priest claims the power to forgive sins, and 
at his feet the confessor bows, and tells him the 
secrets of his heart. The confessional has been 
the prolific cause of crimes too great to chronicle 
in these pages. So powerful is the influence of 
the priest, that he comes between the husband and 
the wife, the parent and the child, and holds the 
happiness or misery of families in his hands. 

*D'Aubigne's Hist. Reformation, vol. 1, p. 246. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 173 

The Catholics also teach that "The end justifies 
the means." I know of no other doctrine so well 
calculated to create anarchy and ruin, either to 
home or country. It is contrary both to the spirit 
of religious liberty and to good government. It 
is owing to this doctrine that men, who have 
inveighed against the teachings and practices of 
Kome, have been spirited away, or have suffered 
at the hands of the midnight assassin. Such was 
Rome in the beginning of the sixteenth century 
and such is Rome to-day. It is her boast that she 
never changes, and the public declarations of her 
high officials fully attest this fact. M. F. Cusack, 
the Nun of Kenmare, says : ' 4 One glance at her 
authorized catechisms will show that she is, if 
possible, more intolerant to-day than even in the 
darkest ages of her history." Here are a few 
recent declarations of Catholic papers and priests 
which show the purpose of Romanism : 

"We hate Protestantism, we detest it with our 
whole heart and soul." — Catholic Visitor. 

"We are not advocates of religious freedom, 
and we repeat we are not." — Shepherd of the 
Valley. 

"There can be no religion without an inquisi- 
tion, which is wisely designed for the promotion 
of the true faith. ' ' — Boston Pilot. 

"Religious liberty is merely endured until the 



174 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

opposite can be carried into effect." — Bishop 
CP Connor. 

"There is, ere long, to be a State religion in 
this country, and that State religion is to be 
Roman Catholic." — Priest Hecker. 

' c We will take this country and build our insti- 
tutions over the grave of Protestantism." — Priest 
Hecker. 

The Bishop of St. Louis, in December, 1883, 
through his official organ, The Shepherd of the 
Valley, wrote as follows : 

"We confess that the Roman Catholic church 
is intolerant, that is to say it uses all the means in 
its power for the extirpation of error and sin ; but 
this intolerance is the logical and necessary con- 
sequence of its infallibility. She alone has the 
right to be intolerant, because she alone has the 
truth. The church tolerates heretics where she is 
obliged to do so, but she hates them mortally and 
employs all her force to secure their annihilation. 
When the Catholics shall be here in possession of 
considerable majority, which will certainly be the 
case by-and-by, although the time may be long de- 
ferred, then religious liberty will have come to an 
end in the Republic of the United States. Our 
enemies say this, and we believe them. Our ene- 
mies know that we do not pretend to be better 
than our church, and in what concerns this, her 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 175 

history is open to the eyes of all. They know, 
then, how the Roman church dealt with the heretics 
in the Middle Ages, and how she deals with them 
to-day everywhere she has the power. We no 
more think of deDying these historic facts than we 
do of blaming the saints of God and the princes 
of the church for what they have done or approved 
in these matters." 

The church of Rome would establish an inquisi- 
tion in America to-day, with all its horrible in- 
struments if she had the power. So her officials 
tell us and we should thank them for their candor. 
Who can doubt that this church — this false church 
— is the woman arrayed in purple and scarlet, 
which is mentioned in Revelation and called 
" Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of 
Harlots and Abominations of Earth. ' ' 

I can conceive of two reasons why a church may 
be called a harlot. Harlotry is an unlawful or an 
illegitimate union. 1. A union between church 
and State is an unlawful union and is condemned 
by Scripture. 2. Any church organization which 
incorporates unregenerate material in its member- 
ship, has formed an unlawful alliance with the 
world, and is guilty of harlotry. 

Any of the daughters of Rome which have 
either of these characteristics are, therefore, har- 
lots. If these are not characteristics of harlotry 



176 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTOBY. 

in a church, then what are ? Can this mother of 
harlots send forth true churches ? Can a stream as 
corrupt as this send forth pure waters ? Could the 
bride, the Lamb's wife, come forth from this 
1 'Mother of Harlots f ' ' 

It was the corrupt state of the Komish hierarchy 
which brought Martin Luther upon the stage of 
action as a great reformer. He was born in Ger- 
many in 1483, and was educated at the University 
of Erfurth, where, at the age of twenty years he 
first saw a copy of the Bible, which he read with 
increasing interest. Soon after this he entered 
the convent of St. Augustine, and for a time lived 
the life of a monk. Here he found another Bible. 
He divided his time principally between reading 
the Bible and begging on the streets of Erfurth. 
He hoped by this act of humility to bring himself 
into the favor of God. The truths of the Bible, 
which he read with so much avidity, begun to 
dawn upon his mind, and he left his monkish 
abode at St. Augustine and became a priest. 
Luther now saw the wickedness of the Romish 
priesthood and commenced to inveigh with all his 
might against the corrupt practices of the church 
of Rome. Thus through him the light of the re- 
formation begun to spread over Germany. Luther, 
however, never came clear out of Rome. He was 
inconsistent with himself. While he tried to be- 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 177 

lieve in the doctrine of justification by faith, he 
still believed in transubstantiation, and regarded 
a belief of this doctrine essential to salvation. 

About the time the reformation commenced in 
Germany, under Luther, a like reformation begun 
in Switzerland under Ulric Zwingle. He was a 
brilliant and pious man, and under his influence 
the Reformed church had its beginning, which 
afterwards, under the influence of John Calvin, 
assumed the character of Presbyterianism. 

Zwingle, unlike Luther, attached no saving 
eflicacy to the Lord's Supper. The two met in a 
heated debate in a discussion of the doctrine of 
transubstantiation. Zwingle contending that the 
Lord's Supper was only symbolical, while Luther 
contended for the real presence of Christ in the 
emblems. 

Not long after the reformation dawned upon 
Germany and Switzerland under these two reform- 
ers, John Calvin begun a similar work in France. 
He was born in 1509, and at the age of twelve 
years received the tonsure from the bishop, which 
entitled him to a stipend, and prepared him for 
holy orders. When Calvin came to manhood he, 
like Luther, turned away from Rome, but bore 
with him many of its characteristics. He held 
almost identically the same views of the Lord's 
Supper that Luther held. He believed in con- 



178 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

substantiation, or the real presence of Christ in 
the emblems. 

Both of these men brought with them, from 
Borne, the spirit of persecution. Mr. Jones says : 
"And with respect to Calvin, it is manifest that 
the^ leading, and to me at least, the most hateful 
feature in all the multiform character of popery 
adhered to him through life — I mean the spirit of 
persecution. Holding, as I do, many doctrinal 
sentiments in common with Calvin, I am prompted 
to speak my opinion of him with less reserve."* 

Mr. Ray says: "It is a well known historic 
fact, that John Calvin the founder of Presby- 
terianism, procured the death of Servetus on ac- 
count of his Baptist principles, "f 

Baptists have always protested against the cor- 
rupt doctrines of Rome, but they are not Protes- 
tants. This term properly applies to those who 
came out of Rome. It was April 19th, 1529, that 
the celebrated Diet of Spires was convened. This 
diet was composed of Roman Catholics who were 
trying to reform the Romish church. Those who 
were engaged in that council were called Protes- 
tants, and hence the term is never properly ap- 
plied to Baptists. 

The protests which were submitted in this coun- 

*Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 365. 

tRay's Church Succession, p. 419. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 179 

cil may be summed up in the two following propo- 
sitions : 

1. Conscience above the magistrates or laws. 

2. The word of God above the visible church. 
This council, or Diet of Spires, was the direct 

result of the reformation, produced by the two 
great reformers, Luther and Zwingle. Calvin and 
Farel, the two French reformers, had not yet come 
prominently upon the stage of action, but the 
blaze of the reformation was lighting the whole of 
Europe, and men everywhere were trying to break 
the chain which bound their consciences to an 
oppressive clergy. 

Baptists sympathized with the Protestants in 
this movement, but they had always plead for 
religious liberty and freedom of conscience, and it 
was not for them to unite with the Protestants, 
until the Protestants came clear out of Rome, 
which they did not do. The opportunity was 
theirs, but they did not and would not improve it. 

Some Baptists, however, were drawn into the 
current of the reformation. We are told that 
some Waldenses in Calabria, in 1560, formed a 
junction with the church at Geneva, of which John 
Oalvin was pastor.** These Waldenses then left off 
rebaptizing, and it is more than probable that they 
subsequently practiced infant baptism, which the 

*Jones' Ch. Hist., pp. 329, 393. 



180 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

ancient Waldenses never did. From this time on 
a distinction must be made between the ancient 
and modern Waldenses. 

During this same year, 1560, the Lutherans 
suffered severe persecutions at the hands of the 
Catholics. The inquisition had been introduced 
into Spain about a century before this time. 

In 1560, Philip II., king of Spain, took an oath 
in the city of Volladolid, to support the inquisi- 
tion, and its ministers against all heretics and 
apostates. A great number of Protestants were 
committed to the flames on Philip's arrival in the 
city, some of which the king witnessed himself, 
and he declared that he would burn his own son 
were he such a heretic* 

This king was the peer of any man in wicked- 
ness. He afterwards caused poison to be admin- 
istered to his own son. 

A. D. 1524. The Munster riots occurred in 
1524. Baptists have sometimes, but very unjustly, 
been charged with having bee,n responsible for 
these riots, and some persons have, either igno" 
rantly, or with intention to misrepresent, charged 
them with having originated at this time. The 
truth is that there were no Baptists connected with 
these riots in any way of which history gives any 
account. As citizens, that some might have been 

*Jones ? Ch. Hist., p. 383. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 181 

mixed up with them would not have been strange. 

Thomas Munzer was their leader, and he was 
not a Baptist. He wrote Luther that he was not 
only pastor, but king and emperor of Mulhausen. 

No one could be a Baptist in truth, and favor 
the principles of those engaged in the Munster 
riots. Baptists have always contended for relig- 
ious liberty and freedom of conscience, but have 
sought to accomplish these, not by the sword, but 
by divine truth. 

The principles which culminated in the Munster 
riots, had been slumbering in Europe for years, 
and occasionally had been breaking out. When 
the reformation dawned and the people begun to 
throw off the oppressive yoke of Komanism, they 
were ready to strike, not only for religious liberty 
but for civil liberty as well, and this spirit culmi- 
nated in the riots of the u Mad Men of Munster." 
The reformation was the occasion of the riots. 



182 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

CHAPTEK XVI. 

WALDENSEAN PEKIOD— Concluded. 

The King of France obtains possession of the Pied- 
mont country. Severe persecutions follow. 
Thirty miles staked with hitman beings. Pres- 
byterians persecuted. Waldenses imprisoned and 
their children dispersed among Catholic fami- 
lies. Piedmont depopulated of its ancient in- 
habitants. The dreary march to Switzerland, 
and the sorrowing pilgrims. Fifty millions of 
lives destroyed by Catholics since A. D. £50. 
' ' Come out of her my people. ' ' 

WE left off the history of the Waldenses at the 
close of chapter twelfth, in order to give 
some account of the heresies and corruptions of 
the Catholic party, which gave rise to the ref- 
ormation of the sixteenth century. 

We are told that when the witnesses ' ' shall have 
finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth 
out of the bottomless pit shall make war against 
them and shall overcome them, and shall kill 
them."* 

This prophecy had its fulfillment in the year 
1686, when the Waldenses in the valleys of Pied- 
mont were either all killed or driven to other 
countries. 

*Rev. 11:7. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 183 

A continuation of their history is a continuation 
of the same old story of persecutions, trials and 
sufferings. If the reader grows tired of this, he 
must remember that much of the history of the 
Baptists is written in blood, and it can only be 
read by the lighted fires of the martyrs who suf- 
fered for their faith during the dark ages. Our 
enemies have, for us, preserved our history in this 
way, and it can be traced only by the blood- 
stained footprints of a people of whom ' ' the world 
was not worthy." 

A. D. 1550. About the middle of the sixteenth 
century, Francis I., king of France, obtained pos- 
session of the whole of the Piedmont country, by 
conquest, and regulated its affairs by means of its 
parliament at Turin. Paul III., then pope of 
Rome, so influenced parliament that the severe 
persecutions, which the Waldenses had suffered 
in France, were now re-enacted in Piedmont, and 
numbers of Waldenses were committed to the 
flames. In their distress they appealed to the 
king, but he turned a deaf ear to their cry, and 
commanded them to be regulated, in the concerns 
of religion, by the Romish church. They were 
then commanded by parliament to send away their 
pastors on pain of death and in their room to re- 
ceive priests belonging to the Catholic church to 
conduct their worship and say masses for them. 



184: COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

The Waldenses replied that they could obey no 
commands which interferred with the laws of God. 

A. D. 1555. Parliament then relinquished the 
matter to the inquisition and many of the Wal- 
denses were burned to death. This was in the 
year 1555. 

Not long after this the inquisitors appointed a 
person to go through the valleys, armed with the 
king's authority to compel the Waldenses either 
to conform to the church of Rome or be put to 
death. 

The Waldenses in Calabria about the same time 
were suffering severe persecutions. At one time 
eighty persons had their throats cut, and after- 
wards their bodies were divided into four quarters. 
Thirty miles were then planted with stakes, and a 
quarter of a human being was placed upon each of 
these stakes. At one time a young man was car- 
ried to the top of a tower where he was com- 
manded to confess himself to a priest, who was 
present. This he refused to do, replying that he 
had already confessed himself to God. He was 
then cast headlong from the tower. The next day 
as the viceroy was walking at the foot of the 
tower he saw the young man still alive, but suffer- 
ing from having nearly all his bones broken. The 
viceroy kicked him on the head, exclaiming, "Is 
the dog yet alive? Give him to the hogs." 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 185 

These are but samples of the brutal outrages 
carried on at this time against the Waldenses in 
Calabria. This was done too, in the name of Chris- 
tianity, and by the authority of "the church." 
Was this a church of Christ? 

A. D. 1601. In the year 1601, the Duke of 
Savoy issued a decree against the Waldenses, in 
which he allowed them fifteen days to renounce 
their religious profession and go to mass, or else 
to depart from his dominions, and never to return 
without permission, under penalty of death. 

More than five hundred families were driven by 
this act into exile ! Some crossed the Alps and 
retired into Dauphiny, in France. Others went 
to Geneva, and still others sought refuge among 
their friends in the valleys of Piedmont.* 

Mr. Orchard, referring doubtless to this same 
circumstance, though the dates do not exactly cor- 
respond, says that two millions of persons were 
condemned by this cruel instrument, and banished 
from their native soil. "If any remained it was 
at the peril of life and liberty; yet some braved 
the danger, and worshipped unseen and unheard 
by malicious foes. 4 Pious females shrouded by the 
night, bent their way amidst darkness and danger 
towards the spot assigned for their religious ser- 
vices. * * * To such an assembly how eloquent 
must have appeared the lessons of that preacher, 

*Jones'Ch. Hist., p. 408. 

13 



186 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

who braved death at every word he uttered ; how 
impressive that service, the attending of which 
incurred the penalty of fetters for life.' "* 

Owing to the severe persecutions which had 
scattered the Waldenses abroad in different lands, 
and owing to the further fact that sects had begun 
to multiply in consequence of the reformation, 
and some of the Waldenses had abandoned their 
former faith, and united with the reformed 
churches, the scattered Waldenses, in France, re- 
published their Articles of Faith in 1655. (For a 
copy of their Articles of Faith as published in the 
year 1120, see page 118.) No one who is ac- 
quainted with Baptist principles will doubt for a 
moment that these Waldenses were Baptists, and 
held the same doctrines which characterize Bap- 
tists at the present day. 

The Waldenses were not the only people who 
suffered persecution at the hands of the Catholics. 
In the year 1685, an effort was made by Louis 
XIY., of France, to force Presbyterians — Calvin- 
ists as they were then called — back into the Catho- 
lic church. "The cruelties inflicted upon them at 
this time," says Mr. Jones, "if possible surpass 
in atrocity anything that is to be found in the per- 
secutions of the first Christians. 'They cast some 
into large fires and took them out when they were 
half roasted. They hanged others with ropes 

^Orchard's Bap. Hist., p. 292. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HTSTOBY. 187 

under their arms, and plunged them several times 
into wells till they promised to renounce their 
religion. They tied them like criminals on the 
rack, and by means of a funnel, poured wine into 
their mouths, till being intoxicated, they declared 
that they consented to turn Catholics. Some they 
cut and slashed with pen knives, others they took 
up by the nose with red-hot tongs, and led them 
up and down the rooms till they promised to turn 
Catholics. ' These cruel proceedings caused eight 
hundred thousand persons to quit the kingdom."* 

The governor of the valleys of Piedmont at once 
issued a proclamation forbidding any stranger 
from going into the valleys and remaining above 
three days, without permission, on pain of being 
severely punished. This proclamation seemed 
mysterious to the inhabitants, until it was ascer- 
tained that it was intended to prevent them from 
furnishing shelter to their persecuted brethren. 

A. D. 1686. In the year 1686, "the people 
were amazed at the publication of an order from 
the Duke of Savoy, forbidding his subjects the 
exercise of the Protestant religion upon pain of 
death, the confiscation of their goods, the demoli- 
tion of their churches, and the banishment of their 
pastors. All infants born at that time, were to be 
baptized and brought up in the Koman Catholic 
religion, under the penalty of their fathers being 

*Jones'Ch. Hist., p. 451. 



188 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

condemned to the galleys and their mothers 
whipped."* 

If any one thinks that such acts of cruelty 
should not be recorded upon the pages of history, 
let him remember that only in this way can the 
people be educated, and that in religious, as well 
as political matters, l < eternal vigilance is the price 
of liberty." 

History repeats itself, and it is the boast of 
Rome that she never changes. The Catholics 
have declared their purpose, when they come into 
power, to put religious liberty to an end in this 
country. Should they ever possess the power, 
scenes like those here recorded will be repeated. 
Let the alarm be sounded now, and let the people 
watch with a jealous eye for every encroachment 
upon their religious privileges. 

The work of the destruction of the witnesses 
was not yet complete. The "beast" was yet to 
drink more deeply of the blood of the saints, and 
the woman " arrayed in purple and scarlet," was 
yet to have her garments more deeply dyed. 

Mr. Jones says: u The armies of France and 
Savoy having inhumanly butchered a multitude of 
the Waldenses, committed more than twelve thou- 
sand of them to prison, and dispersed two thou- 
sand of their children among the Catholics ; con- 
dones' Ch. Hist., pp. 451, 472. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 189 

eluding that their work was accomplished, they 
caused all their property to be confiscated. 

"And thus were the valleys of Piedmont de- 
populated of their ancient inhabitants, and the 
light of the glorious gospel extinguished in a 
country where for many preceding centuries, it 
had shone with resplendent lustre. "* 

The same historian says that more than ten, 
thousand of these prisoners were distributed among 
fourteen prisons, or castles, in Piedmont. They 
were fed for months upon bread and water alone. 
The bread contained lime, glass and filth of va- 
rious kinds, while the water brought from stag- 
nant pools, was scarcely fit for the use of cattle. 

The prisons were so crowded that in the heat of 
the summer months, they became intolerable and 
deaths were daily taking place. Especially women 
in a delicate condition were unable to endure the 
hardships of such a prison life, and many died for 
want of attention. 

The greatest precaution had been taken in the 
imprisonment of these down-trodden people, to 
separate the different members of the same family. 
The husband was carefully separated from his 
wife, and the parent from the child, in order to 
deprive them of the comforts and consolation of 
each other's society. 

*Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 464. 



190 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

A. D. 1686. These people had been imprisoned 
in April, 1686, and in September following, the 
Swiss Cantons convened a general assembly, at 
Avon, to devise some measures for their release. 
This was accomplished in October following, and 
the Duke of Savoy issued his proclamation for 
their release. The ground was now covered with 
snow and ice, and the victims of cruelty were 
emaciated through poverty and disease, and en- 
tirely unfit for the journey before them, for the 
condition of their release was that they should 
quit the country. 

"The proclamation was made, and at five 
o'clock the same evening, they were to begin a 
march of four or five leagues ! Before the morn- 
ing more than a hundred and fifty of them sunk 
under the burden of their maladies and fatigues 
and died. The same thing happened to the pris- 
oners at Fossan. A company of them halted one 
night at the foot of Mount Cenis ; when they were 
about to march the next morning, they pointed 
the officer, who conducted them, to a terrible 
tempest upon the top of the mountain, beseeching 
him to allow them to stay until it had passed 
away. The inhuman officer, deaf to the voice of 
pity, insisted on their marching ; the consequence 
of which was, that eighty-six of their number died, 
and were buried in the horrible tempest of snow. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 191 

Some merchants that afterwards crossed the moun- 
tains, saw the bodies of these miserable people 
extended on the snow, the mothers clasping their 
children in their arms ! "* 

These persecuted and down-trodden Baptists 
finally found a home — an asylum in Switzerland. 
I can do no better than quote further from Mr. 
Jones on this subject. 

"At Geneva they experienced that kind and 
hospitable reception which was due to them as 
their fellow creatures, and more especially as their 
persecuted Christian brethren. They clothed the 
naked, fed the hungry, succored the afflicted and 
fed the sick. But what pen can describe the 
affecting scene which now took place while they 
halted at Geneva, for rest and refreshment, before 
[A, D. 1686.] they proceeded to Switzerland ! 
Those who arrived first naturally went out to meet 
those who came after, anxiously inquiring for 
their relatives and friends, of whom they had 
heard nothing since the fatal catastrophe in the 
valleys of Piedmont. The father inquired after 
his child, and the child after its parent ; the hus- 
band sought his wife and the latter her partner in 
life. Every one endeavored to gain some intelli- 
gence of his friend or neighbors ; but as three- 
fourths of them had died in prison, or on the road, 
it exhibited a melancholy spectacle to see so many 

*Jones' Ch. Hist., p. 465. 



192 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

dissolved in tears at the distressing accounts they 
received."* 

Thus ended the Waldensean Period of the 
churches, in the year 1686, and the prophecy was 
fulfilled which declared the beast should kill them. 

Though destroyed in the valleys of Piedmont, 
the blood of the martyrs again ' ' became the seed 
of the church," for this church was of divine 
origin and could not be destroyed. Beneath it 
were the hands of Him who had said, "Upon this 
rock I will build my church and the gates of hell 
shall not prevail against it." We will continue to 
find this same people, contending for the pure 
word of God, and for the "faith once delivered to 
the saints," ever the conservators of religious 
liberty and soul freedom. 

It has been estimated that there have been fifty 
millions of persons slaughtered by Catholics since 
they came into existence, in the middle of the 
third century. This would be an average of nearly 
forty thousand a year since A. D. 600. Is not 
this church the ' ' Mystery, Babylon the Great, 
Mother of Harlots and Abomtnations of the 
Earth," which is spoken of in Revelation? 

The recent utterances of Catholics declare 
themselves to be as intolerant to-day as they 
were during the dark ages. The spirit of Roman- 
ism is unchanged. It is still blood thirsty. Last 

*Jones J Ch. Hist., pp. 465,466. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 193 

summer three Protestants were killed in Mexico, 
one of them a preacher, by a mob incited by a 
Catholic priest. In commenting upon this act of 
brutality the Freemwi, a Catholic paper, makes 
this statement : "If the killing of a few mission- 
aries of this kind would keep others like them at 
home, we should almost — we Papists are so 
wicked ! — be inclined to say, l On with the dance ; 
let joy be unconfined.' " 

Let no one suppose, however, because of the 
wickedness of the Catholic priests, and the blood- 
thirsty spirit of that false church, that there are no 
Christians among the Catholics, for there are. To 
them God says : * ' Come out of her, my people, 
that ye be not partakers of her sin." 



194: COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

ANABAPTISTS ; OR BAPTISTS. 

Montanists, Donatists, etc., called Anabaptists. Ana- 
baptists' objects of common aversion. Their origin 
hidden in the depths of antiquity, Acephali. Edicts 
against Anabaptism. Baptists ordered out of Mo- 
ravia. A piteous appeal. Persecuted for opposing 
infant baptism. Anabaptists disintered and burned. 
Baptists burned at Smithfield. Regular adminis- 
tration of baptism. King James persecutes Bap- 
tists. Presbyterian persecutions. London Pres- 
byterian clergy on religious liberty. Twenty -five 
for sprinkling and twenty-four against it. Bax- 
ter's opinion of immersion. Sam' I Oates indicted 
for baptizing. Presbyterians banish Baptists from 
Switzerland. John Bunyan's imprisonment, and 
Dean Stanley's oration. John James hung and 
quartered for his Baptist principles. Act of Uni- 
formity. Conventicle Act. Five-mile Act. Baptists 
come to America. 

THE term Anabaptist was applied to all that 
class of persons who were known by the 
more general name of Waldenses. While the 
name Anabaptist was not so generally used until 
after the reformation of the sixteenth century, it 
was occasionally used as early as the beginning of 
the third century. Literally the word means to 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 195 

baptize again, and was applied to all those Chris- 
tians who rebaptized those who came over to their 
communion from the Catholics. 

These people repudiated the name, however, in 
its specific meaning, claiming that it was not re- 
baptism, since the Catholic church, being an apos- 
tate church, could not administer Scriptural bap- 
tism. After the close of the Waldensean period 
the prefix ana begun to be left off and the simple 
name of Baptist finally came to be used. 

The fact that the Montanists, Donatists, Nova- 
tians, Puritans, Albigenses, Waldenses, etc., ad- 
ministered baptism anew to all those who came 
over to their communion from the Catholics, not 
only stigmatized them as Anabaptists, but was the 
prime cause of their early persecutions. The 
Catholics rightly judged that in repudiating their 
baptism, the Anabaptists refused to recognize 
their church as being a church of Christ. 

Orchard quotes Mosheim as saying: "There 
were certain sects and doctors against whom the 
zeal, vigilance and severity of Catholics, Luther- 
ans and Calvinists were united. The objects of 
their common aversion were the Anabaptists. "* 

Mosheim further states : ' ' The true origin of 
that sect which acquired the denomination of Ana- 
baptists by their administering anew the rite of 
baptism to those who came over to their com- 

*Orchard's Bapt. Hist., p. 346. 



196 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

munion, and derived that of Mennonites from the 
famous man to whom they owe the greatest part 
of their present felicity, is hidden in the depths of 
antiquity, and is of consequence extremely diffi- 
cult to be ascertained."* 

The value of the above testimony is seen in the 
fact that Mosheim was no friend to the Baptists. 
He was a Lutheran and unwittingly testifies against 
himself, and in favor of a denomination for whom 
he had no sympathy. Mosheim could trace his 
own denomination back to Martin Luther, its head 
and founder. He could trace every other denomi- 
nation back to its origin, but when he would seek 
for the origin of the Baptists, or Anabaptists as he 
called them, he declares it to be ki hidden in the 
depths of antiquity." It is true that he could find 
some man whose name they bore in one locality, 
but tracing their history back by the principles 
which characterized them, he could find the same 
people existing hundreds of years before, but 
called by a different name. They had no human 
head — no human founder — so this Lutheran his- 
torian says " their origin is extremely difficult to 
be ascertained." 

The Baptists were sometimes called by their 
enemies Acephali, which means the headless, be- 
cause they had no human head. 

On account of their practice of re baptizing all 

*Mosheim, vol. 2, p. 127. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 197 

-who came over to their communion from the other 
sects, the Baptists suffered alike both at the hands 
of the Catholics and the Lutherans. Though the 
Lutheran church did not take organic form until 
1552, yet as early as 1520, the followers of Luther 
-were very numerous in Germany and other parts 
of Europe, and everywhere both he and his fol- 
lowers seconded every effort of the Catholics to 
persecute the Baptists. 

A. D. 1522. The first edict against anabaptism 
■"was published at Zurich, in 1522, in which there 
was a penalty of a silver mark set upon all such 
as should suffer themselves to be rebaptized, or 
should withhold baptism from their children. And 
it was further declared, that those who openly op- 
posed this order should be yet more severely 
treated. This being insufficient to check immer- 
sion, the Senate decreed, like Honorius, 413, that 
all persons who professed Anabaptism, or har- 
bored the professors of the doctrine should be 
punished with death by drowning. It had been 
death to refuse baptism, and now it was death to 
be baptized. In defiance of this law, the Baptists 
persevered in their regular discipline ; and some 
ministers of learned celebrity realized the severity 
of the sentence. Many Baptists were drowned 
and burnt."* 

Hunted like wild beasts, and driven from place 

Orchard's Bapt. Hist., p. 352. 



198 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

to place, and from country to country, there 
seemed to be no place where Baptists could rest 
in security. The persecutions became so fierce in 
Switzerland and Germany in 1530, that large num- 
bers emigrated from Switzerland, Austria, Styria 
and Bavaria, under the leadership of Jacob Hut- 
ter, and settled in Moravia, but in 1535, Frederick, 
king of Bohemia, ordered their expulsion. Jacob 
Hutter then addressed a letter to the marshal of 
Moravia, in behalf of his brethren, in which they 
made the following piteous appeal : 

1 ' We know not any place where we may se- 
curely live ; nor can we any longer dare here re- 
main for hunger and fear. If we turn to the ter- 
ritories of this or that sovereign, everywhere we 
find an enemy. If we go forward we fall into the 
jaws of tyrants and robbers, like sheep before the 
ravening wolf and the raging lion. With us are 
many widows, and babes in their cradles, whose 
parents that most cruel tyrant and enemy of divine 
righteousness, Ferdinand, gave to the slaughter, 
and whose property he seized. These widows and 
orphans and sick children, committed to our 
charge by God, and whom the Almighty hath 
commanded us to feed, to clothe, to cherish, and 
to supply all their needs, who cannot journey with 
us, nor, unless otherwise provided for, can long 
live — these we dare not abandon. We may not 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 199 

overthrow God's law to observe man's law, al- 
though it cost gold, and body and life. On their 
account we cannot depart ; but rather than they 
should suffer injury we will endure any extremity, 
even to the shedding of our blood. Besides here we 
have houses and farms, the property that we have 
gained by the sweat of our brow, which in the 
sight of God and men are our just possession : to 
sell them we need time and delay. Of this prop- 
erty we have urgent need in order to support our 
wives, widows, orphans and children, of whom we 
have a great number, lest they die of hunger. 
* * * We answer further : that if driven from 
this land, there remains no refuge for us, unless 
God shall show us some special place whither to 
flee. We cannot go. This land and all that therein 
is, belongeth to God of heaven : and if we were to 
give a promise to depart, perhaps we should not 
be able to keep it ; for we are in the hand of God, 
who does with us what he will. By him we are 
brought hither, and peradventure he would have 
us here and not elsewhere to dwell, to try our faith 
and constancy by persecutions and adversity. But 
if it should appear to be His will that we depart 
hence, since we are persecuted and driven away, 
then will we even without your command, not 
tardily but with alacrity, go whither God shall 
send us. Day and night we pray unto him that 



200 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

he will guide our steps to the place where he 
would have us dwell. We cannot and dare not 
withstand His holy will ; nor is it possible for you, 
however much you may strive. Grant us but a 
brief space ; peradventure our Heavenly Father 
will make known to us His will, whether we are 
here to remain, or whether we must go. If this 
be done, you shall see that no difficulty, however 
great it may be, shall deter us from our 
faith. * * * 

' ' The oppressor was melted for once. The order 
was recalled, and the Baptists enjoyed peace and 
freedom for some time longer. "* 

These persecutions were not because of any 
lawlessness of which the Baptists were guilty, but 
solely on account of the principles which they ad- 
vocated, and which the same people advocate to- 
day — the principles of soul freedom and religious 
liberty. 

A. D. 1529. Erasmus, in 1529, testified of their 
general conduct as follows : 

u The Anabaptists (in Switzerland), although 
they are very numerous, have no church in their 
possession. These persons are worthy of greater 
commendation than others, on account of the 
harmlessness of their lives, but they are oppressed 
by all other sects, "f 

*Cramp's Bap. Hist., pp. 190, 191. 
fOrchard's Bap. Hist., p. 358. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 201 

A. D. 1532. Mr. Orchard says when Frederick, 
in 1532, conferred privileges on the German 
Protestants, he excepted Baptists. The same 
writer, quoting Mosheim, says : "In almost all 
the countries of Europe, an unspeakable number of 
Baptists preferred death in its worst forms, to a 
retraction of their sentiments. Neither the view of 
the flames that were kindled to consume them, 
nor the ignominy of the gibbet, nor the terrors of 
the sword, could shake their invincible constancy, 
or make them abandon tenets that appeared dearer 
to them than life with all its enjoyments. It is 
true, indeed, that many Baptists suffered death, 
not on account of their being rebellious subjects, 
but merely because they were judged to be incur- 
able heretics ; for in this century (1536), the error 
of limiting the administration of baptism to adult 
persons only, and the practice of rebaptizing such 
as had received that sacrament in a state of in- 
fancy, were looked upon as most flagitious and 
intolerable heresies. Those who had no other 
marks of peculiarity than their administering bap- 
tism to the adult, and their excluding the un- 
righteous from the external communion of the 
church, ought to have met with milder treatment."* 

A. D. 1551. In the year 1551, the wife of 
Jeronimus Segerson was drowned for the sole 
reason that she did not believe in infant baptism. 

*Orcliard's Bap. Hist., pp. 362, 363. 

14 



202 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

The court asked Mrs. Segerson concerning bap- 
tism. She replied, U I acknowledge but one bap- 
tism, even that which was used by Christ and his 
disciples, and left to us." "What do you hold 
concerning infant baptism?" asked the sheriff. 
To which she answered, c ' Nothing but a mere in- 
fant baptism, and a human institution." 

On this the bench stood up and consulted to- 
gether, after which sentence was pronounced upon 
her. She was shortly afterwards put in a sack 
and drowned. Her husband had previously been 
burned at Antwerp for his faith. In one of his 
letters he said : "I had rather be tortured ten 
times every day, and then finally be roasted on a 
gridiron, than renounce the faith I have con- 
fessed."* Others were stretched upon the rack, 
or suspended by the hands, while heavy weights 
were attached to their feet. The matron and 
maiden, the minister and layman, alike suffered 
the same fate. These were Baptists, and their 
persecutors were Catholics. The persecutions oc- 
curred in Belgium and the Netherlands. 

A. D. 1556. In the year 1556, the dead were 
disinterred and burned by Catholic authority in 
England, for the crime of having been Anabap- 
tists while living. During the short, but severe 
reign of bloody Mary, she endeavored to restore 
the authority of the Catholic religion over her 

*Cramp's Bap. Hist., p. 202. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 203 

subjects. At this time a Baptist, originally from 
Holland, by the name of David George, died in 
England. Speaking of him Mr. Crosby says : 
u He died in the year 1556, and was honorably 
buried in St. Lawrence church. Some time after 
his death it was discovered that he was an Ana- 
baptist ; upon which his house, and those of his 
followers, were searched, a certain number of di- 
vines and lawyers appointed to examine them, his 
opinions were condemned by an ordinance, his 
picture carried about and burnt, and his corpse 
taken up, three years after it was buried, and 
burnt. 55 * 

This was the penalty paid for being an Ana- 
baptist in England in 1556. 

About the same time a severe decree was issued 
against the Baptists in Germany, in which all per- 
sons were forbidden to unite with them, and "in 
1560 the prohibition was put in force with the 
following injunction : That no rebaptized person 
should be taken into employment or exercise any 
profession, "f 

A. D. 1575. In the year 1575, Baptists were 
persecuted in England, by the authority of the 
establishment. "Fourteen women and a youth 
were put on board a vessel and sent out of the 
country. The youth was whipped from the prison 

*Ray's Baptist Succession, p. 424. 
tOrchard's Bap. Hist., p. 371. 



204 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

to the wharf. Five others were consigned to New- 
gate, where they were put in heavy irons, thrust 
into a damp and filthy dungeon, swarming with 
vermin, and not allowed to associate with other 
prisoners, lest the thieves and murderers in the 
jail should be corrupted by Anabaptist contami- 
nation ! One of their number, Christian Kennels, 
sank under the inhuman treatment. He died in 
the dungeon, after eight days' confinement. He 
was ' released by death, trusting in God ; his 
dying testimony filled us with joy.' "* 

During the same year two other Baptists were 
turned at the stake in Smithfield. Life and par- 
don were offered them on condition that they 
would recant, but they preferred death at the 
stake, rather than life at the price of their relig- 
ious liberty. Some preachers of the established 
church were sent to the place of execution, to pre- 
vent any expression of sympathy by maligning 
the sufferers, f 

This shows the state of Christianity and the 
character of the clergy when State and church are 
combined. 

A. D. 1663. It sometimes happened that the 
severity of the persecutions were such that no 
minister was left to administer the ordinances. 
During the year 1663, owing to the extreme 
measures which Elizabeth used against dissenters, 

"Cramp's Bap. Hist., p. 273. flbid, p. 277. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 205 

some English Baptists thought it necessary to 
send to Holland for a regular administrator of 
believer's baptism. 

" Hearing that regular descendent Waldensean 
ministers were to be found in the Netherlands, 
they deputed Mr. Blount, who understood the 
Dutch language, to visit Amsterdam. He was 
kindly received by the church in that city, and 
their pastor, John Batte. On his return he bap- 
tized Mr. Samuel Blacklock, a minister, and these 
baptized the rest of the company, fifty-three in 
number."* 

Baptists hold to the doctrine of church succes- 
sion and not ministerial succession. A regularly 
organized church, in their estimation, is the cus- 
todian of the ordinances, and not her ministers. 
Had there been a regularly organized church at 
this place, it would not have been necessary to 
send to Holland for an administrator of baptism, 
for this church, being the executor of Christ's 
laws, could have ordained a minister to administer 
the ordinance. The above example shows how 
careful Baptists have always been to guard against 
any irregularities, and to keep the ordinances as 
they were first delivered to the churches. 

It is a matter of fact, however, that there were 
quite a number of regular Baptist churches in 
England at that time, as will be shown in the 

Orchard's Bap. Hist., p. 375. 



206 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

chapter on Church Succession, and one of them, 
was at the time of which we write more than one 
hundred years old. These churches, however, were 
in secluded places, and owing to the existing per- 
secutions had but little communication with each 
other ; besides this mail facilities and opportuni- 
ties for travel were not what they are now, and it 
is likely that these Baptists who sent Mr. Blount 
to Holland to get regular baptism did not know of 
any other Baptists on the continent. 

A. D. 1611. King James, of England, was him- 
self no friend to the Baptists, and the very year 
he gave to the world the common version of the 
Bible, 1611, he showed his zeal for the Episcopal 
church by burning alive two men for heresy. 
One of these was Legate, who was accused of de- 
nying the doctrine of the Trinity. ' ; The other was 
one Edward Wightman, a Baptist of the town of 
Burton upon Trent, who on the 14th day of De- 
cember, was convicted of divers heresies, before 
the bishop of Coventry and Litchfield ; and being 
delivered up to the secular power, was burnt at 
Litchfield the 11th of April following."* 

Under the rule of Henry YIIL, of England, 
when he assumed the headship of the English 
church, in 1534, he issued a proclamation in which 
he stated that foreigners who had been baptized 
in infancy, but had renounced that baptism and 

*Ray's Bap. Succession, p. 427. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 207 

been rebaptized, were commanded to withdraw 
from his dominions within twelve days on pain of 
suffering death if they remained. As a result, 
numbers suffered death in 1535 and 1536. In 
1538, six Dutch Baptists were detected and two of 
them burnt. * 

The spirit of intolerance which characterized 
Rome adheres to all her branches, and has never 
failed to manifest itself whenever an opportunity 
offered. 

With all the good there is in Presbyterianism, 
this spirit of intolerance has always characterized 
that people. Let it not be supposed, however, 
that individually they are not as good as other 
Christians. On the contrary, they may be classed 
with the best people that live ; they are conse- 
crated, earnest and pious. Their principles of 
church government, and practice of infant bap- 
tism, gender this spirit of intolerance, and the 
same spirit always exists wherever class govern- 
ment and infant baptism are found. 

In the seventh century, the London Presbyterian 
clergy put themselves on record to the fact that they 
considered it a great grievance, "that men should 
have liberty to worship God in that way and man- 
ner as shall appear to them most agreeable to the 
word of God, and no man be punished or discoun- 
tenanced by authority for the same, "f 

*Cramp's Bap. Hist., pp. 231, 232. flbid, p. 309. 



208 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

Richard Baxter said: "My judgment in that 
much-disputed point of liberty of religion, I have 
always freely made known. I abhor unlimited 
liberty and toleration of all, and think myself 
easily able to prove the wickedness of it."* 

It is worthy of note that the Presbyterian Gen- 
eral Assembly which held its sessions from 1643 
to 1649, in which they framed their Confession of 
Faith and Catechisms, sustained infant baptism 
and enjoined sprinkling as the mode of adminis- 
tering the rite by a majority of one. l ' Twenty-five 
were for the injunction of sprinkling and twenty- 
four against it."f 

Such was the prejudice against baptism by im- 
mersion that even so good a man as Richard Bax- 
ter used the following language : "That which is 
a plain breach of the sixth commandment, ' Thou 
shalt not kill, ' is no ordinance of God, but a most 
heinous sin. But the ordinary practice of baptiz- 
ing overhead, and in cold water, as necessary, is 
a plain breach of the sixth commandment ; there- 
fore it is no ordinance of God, but a heinous sin, 
and, as Mr. Craddock shows in his book of gospel 
liberty, the magistrate ought to restrain it, to save 
the lives of his subjects. * * * In a word it is 
good for nothing but to despatch men out of the 
world that are burdensome, and to ranken church 
yards. I conclude, if murder be a sin, then dip- 

*Cramp's Bap. Hist., p. 308. flbid, p. 313. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 209 

ping ordinarily overhead in England is a sin ; and 
if those who make it men's religion to murder 
themselves, and urge it upon their consciences as 
their duty, are not to be suffered in a common- 
wealth, any more than highway murderers ; then 
judge how these Anabaptists, that teach the ne- 
cessity of such dipping, are to be suffered."* 

A. D. 1646. The prejudice against the English 
Baptists was so great in 1646, that Samuel Oates, 
a Baptist preacher, was indicted and put in irons 
for murder, under Presbyterian rule, because a 
lady died a few weeks after he immersed her. 
The indictment, however, was not sustained, as it 
was proven in court that the lady was in better 
health after her baptism, than she had been for 
some time before, f 

What would have been the consequences had 
her health failed her immediately after her bap- 
tism, we can easily surmise. 

A. D. 1659. In the year 1659, the Presbyte- 
rians banished the Baptists from Switzerland as 
being an " extremely dangerous and wicked 
sect. "J 

This is the natural result of centralized power 
and of the union of church and State. The Pres- 
byterian is the established church in Scotland, at 

*Cramp's Bap. Hist., p. 314. 

fRay's Bap. Succession, p. 428. JIbid, p. 420. 



210 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

the present time, as the Episcopal is in England, 
but Baptist principles are having their influence in 
the world, and as a consequence religious intoler- 
ance is dying. 

A. D. 1660. In the month of November, 1660, 
John Bunyan was imprisoned in Bedford jail, 
where he remained twelve years. This was solely 
on the ground that he was a Baptist and preached 
Baptist doctrine. 

It is a little singular that two hundred years 
after Bunyan's imprisonment, a statue of the im- 
mortal dreamer, costing fifteen thousand dollars, 
should be erected on the very spot of his imprison- 
ment. And it is still more singular that a minis- 
ter of the establishment which imprisoned him, 
should have delivered an oration, eulogizing his 
life, on the occasion. Yet such are the facts. 

Mr. Cook says : ' ' The veil was removed from 
the statue by Lady Stanley, wife of the Dean of 
Westminster, when the band played the national 
anthem, and the multitudes rent the air with their 
enthusiastic cheers. Dean Stanley delivered a 
long and eloquent address, and speeches were 
made by other distinguished men who seemed to 
vie with one another in doing honor to the memory 
of Bunyan. 

' ' The church of England that despised and perse- 
cuted this poor Baptist while living, now bestows 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 211 

upon him the highest honors. What a pity that 
some of this appreciation was not shown toward 
him when in Bedford jail. Times greatly change 
in the course of two hundred years, a fact which 
must have deeply impressed all thoughtful minds 
who witnessed the unveiling of this statue in sight 
of the old prison where Bunyan was confined, and 
heard his name eulogized by men whose eccle- 
siastical ancestors had treated him with cruel in- 
dignity. 

' ' Dean Stanley referred to this great change and 
to the triumph of religious liberty, in his address 
.and said: 'Giant Intolerance, who in Bunyan's 
time was stout and hearty is now deprived of his 
terrors.' When the vast audience greeted this 
sentiment with loud cheers, the Dean continued : 
'Ah, don't be too jubilant. The old giant is still 
alive ; he may be seen on all sides ; the spirit of 
burning and of judgment has not altogether de- 
parted from mankind, either from churchmen or 
Nonconformists ; but the giant's joints are very 
stiff and crazy.' "* The unveiling of the statue 
took place June 10th, 1874. 

A. D. 1661. Inl661, Elder John James was hung 

and quartered in England, by order of Charles II. , 

for his Baptist principles. His quarters were placed 

over the city gates, in London, and his head was 

*Cook's Story of the Baptists, pp. 172, 173. 



212 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

set upon a pole opposite the meeting house in 
which he had preached the gospel.* 

A. D. 1662. The church of England passed 
what is known as the Act of Uniformity, which 
received the royal assent, and went into operation 
August 24th, 1662. "By this act five things were 
required of all ministers then in possession of 
livings, as essential to their continuance in the 
establishment. 

"1. Keordination, if they had not been Epis- 
copally ordained before. 

"2. A declaration of 'unfeigned assent and 
consent to all and everything contained in the 
Book of Common Prayer ; and administration of 
the sacraments, and other rites and ceremonies of 
the church ' — a new and corrected edition of which 
was then published, but which great numbers of 
the clergy could not possibly see before the time 
specified — affirming that there was nothing in it 
contrary to the word of God ; with a promise to 
use the prescribed form and no other. 

' ' 3. An oath of canonical obedience and sub- 
jection to the bishops. 

"4. Abjuration of the solemn league and cove- 
nant. 

"5. A declaration of the unlawfulness of tak- 
ing up arms against the king and government 
upon any pretence whatsoever." \ 

*Oamp's Bap. Hist., p. 330. flbid, p. 331. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 213 

Mr. Cramp says this "Act of Uniformity ejected 
two thousand worthy, learned and pious ministers, 
who were ready to say, ' We ought to obey God 
rather than men.' They were willing to sacrifice 
all for truth and cast themselves upon Providence. 
The church of England sustained a blow from that 
ejectment from which she has not yet recovered. 
Some of her best men were driven away, because 
they could not conform to the act." 

This Act ejected Kichard Baxter, who had been 
so hard on the Baptists, and who had said that he 
abhorred unlimited liberty in religious matters. 

A. D. 1664. In 1664, another act was passed 
for the benefit of the church of England, known 
as the Conventicle Act. This act provided : ' ' That 
if any person above the age of sixteen shall be 
present at any meeting, under color or pretence 
of any exercise of religion, in any other manner 
than is allowed by the liturgy or practice of the 
church of England, where shall be five or more 
persons than the household, he shall for the first 
offence suffer three months' imprisonment, upon 
record made upon oath, under the hand and seal of 
a justice of peace, or pay a sum not exceeding five 
pounds ; for the second offence, six months' im- 
prisonment, or ten pounds ; and for the third 
offence, the offender to be banished to some 
American plantation for seven years, or pay one 



214 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

hundred pounds, excepting New England or Vir- 
ginia ; and in case they return, or make their es- 
cape, such persons are to be adjudged felons, and 
suffer death without benefit of clergy."* 

A. D. 1665. The next year after the Conventicle 
Act went into operation, the Five Mile Act was 
passed. It was entitled, "An Act to restrain 
Nonconformists from inhabiting Corporations." 
All Nonconformist ministers were required to take 
the following oath: "I, A. B., do swear, that it 
is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take 
arms against the king ; and that I do abhor that 
traitorous position of taking arms by his authority 
against his person or against those that are com- 
missioned by him, in pursuance of such commis- 
sions ; and that I will not at any time endeavor 
any alteration of government, either in church or 

State, "t 

"Those ministers who refused to take the 
oath," says Mr. Cramp, "were forbidden to go 
within five miles of any city or town that sent 
members to Parliament, or within five miles of 
any place where they had formerly exercised their 
ministry before their ejectment. The fine for 
every offence was forty pounds. They were also 
declared ' incapable of teaching any public or pri- 
vate schools ;' fine forty pounds.";): 

*Cramp's Bap. Hist., p. 338. flbid, p. 339. Jldem. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 215 

The same author says that many ministers, who 
lay concealed in distant places from their flocks in 
the day time, rode thirty or forty miles to preach 
to them in the night, and retired again before 
daylight. 

It will be seen that this act took away every 
vestige, both of civil and religious liberty. The 
Episcopal church was the established church in 
England, and these ministers had to swear to at- 
tempt no alteration of government, either in 
church or State. 

These intolerant acts not only drove Baptists, 
but many of all other denominations from England 
to America, where they hoped to worship God 
according to the dictates of their own consciences, 
and the teachings of His inspired word, and no 
man could molest or make them afraid. 

The Five Mile Act was passed in 1665, and 
there were Baptist churches in America, more 
than twenty-five years before this time. 



216 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

CHAPTEK XYIII. 

BAPTISTS IN AMERICA. 

How Baptists came to America. The manner of 
forming Baptist churches. Roger Williams not 
the founder of the first Baptist church in 
America. Newport the first church, and John 
Clarke the first pastor. First church in Boston. 
Arrival of RoVt Nor din from England. Bap- 
tists in Virginia. An entire church comes from 
Wales with its pastor. Other churches proceed 
from this and Baptists emigrate to the South 
and West. The church at Swansea. Other 
ministers come from Wales. 

THE origin of the Baptists in America is not 
traceable to any one man or set of men. 
They came here singly and in groups. By com- 
paring their articles of faith a unity of doctrine 
was discovered and churches were formed. Bap- 
tist churches are always formed just in this way. 
A few individuals, having been previously bap- 
tized, and holding membership in some Baptist 
church, come together and adopt a church cove- 
nant and articles of faith, and are then ready to 
transact business, such as the election of officers 
for the church, the reception of members, etc., as 
did the church of Jerusalem just before the day of 
Pentecost. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 217 

It has been charged, but very unjustly, that 
Roger Williams was the founder of the Baptists in 
America. The scope of this work forbids my en- 
tering upon a discussion of this question, and the 
reader is referred to Ray's Baptist Succession, and 
especially to a recent work entitled, First Baptist 
Church in America, by Graves and Adlam, for a 
full refutation of this charge. It is a fact that 
Roger Williams never held membership in a regu- 
lar Baptist church a day in his life. It is also a fact 
that the church which he organized ceased to exist 
four months after its organization, and, to use the 
expression of Cotton Mather, a Congregational 
minister, with reference to it, "the church came 
to nothing." That is to say, no other church ever 
grew out of it. 

Had this not been the case, our history would 
not have been affected in any way, for we trace it 
through many different lines to the English and 
Welsh Baptists. 

The first Baptist church in America was estab- 
lished in Newport, R. I., by Dr. John Clarke, and 
his co-laborers, in the year 1638. A note in the 
Philadelphia Baptist Association, p. 455, reads as 
follows: "When the first church in Newport, 
Rhode Island, was one hundred years old, in 1738, 
Mr. John Callender, their minister, delivered and 
published a sermon on the occasion." This places 

15 



218 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTOEY. 

the organization of the church in 1638. The 
church still exists with its original constitution. 

Dr. John Clarke, the first pastor of this church, 
was a regularly ordained Baptist minister when he 
came to America from England, and did more 
than any other man to secure civil and religious 
liberty to the colony of Khode Island, which was 
afterwards extended to the whole of the American 
colonies. 

Kev. John Callender, the historian of Khode 
Island, says of John Clarke : ' ' He was a faithful 
and useful minister, courteous in all the relations 
of life, and an ornament to his profession and to 
the several offices which he sustained. His mem- 
ory is deserving of lasting honor, for his efforts 
towards establishing the first government in the 
world which gave to all equal civil and religious 
liberty. To no man is Khode Island more in- 
debted than to him. He was one of the original 
projectors of the settlement of the island, and one 
of its ablest legislators. No character in New 
England is of purer fame than John Clarke. "* 

Dr. J. K. Graves, in his "First Baptist Church 
in America," states that he visited Newport in 
the year 1854-5, for the purpose of learning the 
claims of the first Baptist church of Newport to 
be the oldest Baptist church in America, and while 
there, in company with Dr. Adlam, he visited the 

*Cramp ! s Bap. Hist., p. 478. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTOET. 219 

neglected grave of Dr. Clarke. Digging away a 
mould which had accumulated at the foot of his 
tombstone he read as follows : 

To the Memory of 

DOCTOR JOHN CLARKE, 

One of the original purchasers and proprietors of 
this island and one of the founders of the 

First Baptist Church of Newport, 

its first pastor and munificent benefactor; 

He ivas a native of Bedfordshire, England, 

and a practitioner of physic in London. 

He, with his associates, came to this island from Mass. , 

in MarcJi, 1638, 0. S., and on the 24th, 

of the same month obtained a deed thereof from 

the Indians. He shortly after gathered 

the church aforesaid and became its pastor. 

In 1651, he with Boger Williams, was sent to England, 

by the people of Bhode Island Colony, 

to negotiate the business of the Colony with the 

British ministry. Mr. Clarke was instrumental 

in obtaining the charter of 1663, from Charles II, which 

secured the people of the State free and 

full enjoyment of judgment and conscience in matters 

of religion. He remained in England 

to watch over the interests of the Colony until 1664, 

and then returned to Newport and 

resumed the pastoral care of his church. 

Mr. Clarke and Mr. Williams, two fathers of the Colony, 

strenuously and fearlessly maintained that 

none but Jesus Christ had authority 

over the affairs of conscience. He died 

April 20th, 1676, in the 66th year 

of his age, and is here interred. 



220 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

Dr. Clarke continued to be the pastor of the 
first church of Newport until his death, a period 
of thirty-eight years, less the time he was absent 
in England. This church is now more than two 
hundred and fifty years old, and from it numbers 
3iave gone out into the West and South to form 
other churches. 

In the year 1665, a Baptist church was organ- 
ized at Charlestown, near Boston, but was after- 
wards moved into the city, and was considered the 
first Boston church. Rev. Thomas Gould was the 
first pastor and was succeeded by Isaac Hull. 
John Emblem was sent for from England, and 
became co-pastor with Mr. Hull, in 1684. * 

In the year 1714, Robert Nordin and Thomas 
White were ordained in London, having been 
written for by the Virginia Baptists, and sailed 
soon after. White died on the way, but Nordin 
arrived in Yirginia and gathered a church at a 
place called Burley in Isle of Wight county. 
There were, says Mr. Benedict, probably a num- 
ber of Baptists settled in this place before the 
arrival of Nordin, by whose request, and for the 
service of whom, he and White were ordained, f 

There was another Baptist church in the Isle of 
Wight county and also one in Surry county soon 
after this time. Benedict quotes Mr. Palmer as 

*Cramp's Bap. Hist., p. 470. 
tBenedict's Hist, of the Baptists, p. 642. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 221 

follows : i ' There is a comely little church in the 
Isle of Wight county, of about thirty or forty 
members, the elder of which is one Richard Jones, 
a very sensible old gentleman, whom I have great 
love for. We see each other at every yearly 
meeting, and sometimes more often. There is 
another church in Surry county, where my brother 
Jones lives, I suppose of about thirty more."* 

Mr. Ray says of the same man: "Richard 
Jones, a Baptist preacher from England, settled 
in Virginia in 1727, where he labored thirty years 
in the ministry. He labored in the field previously 
occupied by Robert Nordin, who preceded him as 
the pioneer Baptist of the Old Dominion. The 
succession of the Virginia Baptists is back to 

England, "f 

Mr. Ray further says: "Casper Mintz came 
from England and settled in Virginia in 1727. 
He spent about thirty years in the ministry. He 
was the associate of Richard Jones ; they both 
arrived in Virginia in two years after the death of 
Robert Nordin."t 

John Miles, with several Baptists, came from 
Swansea, Wales, in 1663, and organized a church 
in Massachusetts, which was also called Swansea. 
This is the oldest Baptist church in Massachusetts. 
Elder Miles was one of those faithful ministers of 

*Benedict's Hist, of the Bap., p. 642. 
fBaptist Succession, p. 69. JIbid. 



222 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

Jesus Christ who suffered persecution under 
Charles II., and also in Massachusetts. So we 
find that the first Baptist church in the Bay State 
was regularly organized by a Baptist preacher 
from Europe. 

Samuel Jones, of South Wales, with a number 
of other Baptists, emigrated to America in the 
year 1686, and settled on the banks of the Penne- 
pek, in Pennsylvania, and went into church or- 
ganization at that place. 

Abel Morgan of Wales, who was an influential 
Baptist minister and pastor in his native country, 
arrived in America in 1711, and took the care of 
the church in Philadelphia. He was a man of 
learning and compiled a folio concordance to the 
Welsh Bible which was printed in Philadelphia 
in 1730.* 

There was a Baptist church organized in Wales 
and came to America as an organized body with 
its pastor in the year 1701, of which Mr. Kay 
gives the following account : 

' ' Thomas Griffith, from South Wales, emigrated 
with the church of which he was pastor, in the 
year 1701. They settled at first near Pennepek, 
in Pennsylvania, (now Delaware), in 1703. This 
church was organized in Wales in 1701, on sixteen 
members. They sailed in church capacity, on 

*See Ray's Bap. Succession, p. 67. Also Davis' Hist. 
Welsh Baptists, p. 39. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 223 

board the ship James and Mary. Here we have 
a whole church, with their pastor, emigrating to 
this country; they kept up their regular church 
meetings whiie crossing the billows of the Atlantic 
ocean. And after its settlement at Welsh Tract, 
it sent forth quite a number of able ministers, who 
aided in planting our American churches. Among 
these may be mentioned Elisha Thomas, Enoch 
Morgan, Jenkins Jones, Owen Thomas, Abel 
Morgan and David Davis. The editor of the 
Minutes of the Philadelphia Association remarks, 
i That this church appears to be very singular in 
its first settlement, and hath been the best supplied 
with ministers of any church belonging to this 
association.' "* 

This old Welsh Tract church sent off branches 
in various directions to form new churches. Mr. 
Backus says that the Baptists in Pennsylvania had 
increased to ten churches and 668 members in 

mo.f 

As early as 1737, the Welsh Tract church, in 
Pennsylvania, lettered off thirty members who 
settled on the Pedee river, in South Carolina, and 
formed a church there which they called Welsh 

Neck.} 

^Baptist Succession, p. 64. Also Davis' Hist. Welsh 
Bap., p. 72. 

fBap. Library, vol. 1, p. 173. 
^Baptist Succession, p. 65. 



224: COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

In the year 1813, Saw Mill church, South Caro- 
lina, was organized direct from Welsh Neck 
church, using the same covenant. Elder William 
Dorsey was at that time pastor, both of Welsh 
Neck and Saw Mill churches and baptized into the 
latter church James Fields, his wife and daughter. 

In 1832, James Fields, his wife, Mrs. Julia 
Fields, and their daughter, Miss Elizabeth Fields,* 
moved from South Carolina to Gibson county, 
Tennessee, taking their letters with them from 
Saw Mill church and, with seven other persons, 
entered into the constitution of Spring Hill church, 
using the covenant and constitution of Saw Mill 
church, South Carolina. 

Elders Hugh Smith and Z. N. Morrill were 
present and aided in the organization of Spring 
Hill church, Tennessee. Elders L. H. Bethel, 
J. W. H. Mays, A. Wade, Jessee Jolliff and Scion 
Skipper were all ordained to the ministry by this 
church. Elder Z. N. Morrill held membership 
with it and was its first pastor. He continued in 
this relation until he moved to Texas in 1835, where 
his labors were abundantly fruitful. He went into 
the first missionary Baptist church ever organized 
in Texas, and became its first pastor. He entered 
into rest at a ripe old age, December 19th, 1883. 

*Now Mrs. Whitson, of Dyersburg, Term., to whom I 
am indebted for this sketch and who is the only constitu- 
ent member of Spring- Hill church now living. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 225 

From Spring Hill church, Tennessee, the fol- 
lowing churches were constituted : Bethel, McCol- 
lough's Chapel, Poplar Grove, Quincy, Hickory 
Grove, Trenton and Dyersburg. 

In 1844, Spring Hill church extended "an arm" 
across the Mississippi river into Missouri, which 
doubtless grew into an organization, though the 
records only mention this much. 

These churches, growing out of Spring Hill 
church, have sent out their colonies in the same 
way the mother church did, and have also ordained 
and sent out ministers into other fields. Elders 
W. C. Grace, of Knoxville, Tenn., and J. G. 
Doyle, of Arkansas, were both ordained by Bethel 
church. 

The West Tennessee State Convention was or- 
ganized at the Spring Hill church in 1834. 

I have entered into these details to show how, 
in a thousand ways, if the records had been pre- 
served we might trace our history back to the very 
days of the apostles. Here is a line of history 
traced church by church, and from present, living 
men, back to Wales. 

The Virginia Baptists, mostly, originated from 
the English Baptists, and these churches in Vir- 
ginia sent colonies throughout the Southern and 
Western States, from which other churches grew, 



226 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTOKT. 

and thus Baptist doctrines have been preserved 
and perpetuated throughout America. 

In the year 1767, a Baptist church was organ- 
ized in Spottsylvania county, Virginia, as one of 
the fruits of the labors of Lewis Craig. Three 
years after the organization of this church Lewis 
Craig became its pastor. The church was at first 
called Upper Spottsylvania, but was afterwards 
known as Craig's Church.** 

In the year 1781, this entire church with its 
pastor, moved from Virginia to Kentucky. Prof. 
Kanck, speaking of the exodus, says : ' ' Not only 
the members, but nearly everything else pertain- 
ing to Craig's church was going. Its official 
books and records, its simple communion service, 
the treasured old Bible from the pulpit — nearly 
everything in fact but the building itself was 
moving away together — an exodus so complete 
that for several years Upper Spottsylvania church 
was without either congregation or constitution."! 

The church at the old site was afterwards rein- 
forced by new members, resumed its constitution, 
and maintains existence to the present day. 

It was in the month of September, 1781, that 
this "Travelling Church " took up its march to the 
"dark and bloody ground." It would halt on 

*Lives of Virginia Bap. Ministers, First Series, p. 86. 
Benedict, p. 648. 

t" The Travelling Church," by Prof. Ranck, p. 13. 






COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 227 

Sunday and rest and worship in the silent groves 
of the then "wild west," and on Monday break 
up camp and resume the march. Several months 
were consumed in making the journey, and when 
the regular meeting day for business came, the 
moderator, Elder Lewis Craig, would call the 
church in conference, a sermon would be preached, 
opportunity for membership in the church would 
be given, and the clerk would make a record of 
the business transacted. When this was done the 
company — for there were many persons besides 
the members of the church in the crowd — would 
proceed on its weary journey. The church con- 
tinued in this way until it reached Kentucky, 
where they raised the standard of divine truth, 
and the church was known as Gilbert's Creek. 

Prof. Ranck, an Episcopalian, has recently pub- 
lished an admirable history of the travels of this 
■church from Virginia to Kentucky, in which he 
says : "Spurred on by cold weather and dire ne- 
cessity the sturdy Baptists quickly made a ' clear- 
ing' in the leafless woods at Gilbert's creek and 
established ' Craig's Station, ' on land afterwards 
owned by John Simpson, and there in that lonely 
outpost, before the close of the second Sunday in 
December, 1781, they had gathered and wor- 
shipped around the same old Bible they had used 
in Spottsylvania and had been preached to by 



228 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

their pastor, Lewis Craig, and by William Mar- 
shall, uncle of the celebrated Chief Justice Mar- 
shall of Virginia. "* 

There was a number of Baptist preachers who 
went from Virginia to Kentucky in this company, 
among whom were Joseph Bledsoe, Joseph Craig, 
William Cave and Simeon Walton. These had 
been preceded to Kentucky by William Hickman, 
Thomas Tinsley, and perhaps other Baptist 
preachers, as early as 1776. f 

Beaver Dam church, Ohio county, Kentucky, 
is one of the oldest churches in that State, it hav-, 
ing been constituted as early as 1798. Some of its 
members lived twenty miles distant, but were 
regular in their attendance. They would leave 
their homes on Friday afternoon, many times on 
foot, and go part of the way, stopping to hold 
prayer meeting at night with some brother on the 
road. The journey would be finished the next 
morning in time for the eleven o'clock sermon. 
There would be preaching on Saturday both in the 
morning and at night, also on Sunday at eleven 
o'clock and at night. Monday morning the mem- 
bers living distant would return to their homes. 
There were conversions and baptisms at almost 
every meeting of the church. If such were not 
the case the members would consider the church 

*The Travelling Church, p. 31. 

fVirginia Bap. Ministers, First Series, p. 241. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 229 

in a very luke-warm condition, and the next meet- 
ing was usually preceded by fasting and prayer. 

Such consecration and earnestness would no 
doubt be attended with like results at the present 
day. The indifference of many church members 
to the interests of their church work is a sad com- 
mentary upon their profession. 

The Welsh Neck church, South Carolina, al- 
ready referred to was not the beginning of Baptist 
history in that State. Mr. Backus says: "When 
Elder William Scraven was cruelly persecuted in 
the province of Maine, in 1682, he went to Charles- 
town, in South Carolina, and became pastor of a 
Baptist church there. "* In a letter written August 
6th, 1708, Mr. Scraven states that his church in 
Charlestown numbered about ninety members. f 

It is not, however, the purpose of this work to 
give a detailed history of American Baptists, but 
merely to show their origin in America, and their 
succession, mainly from the English and Welsh 
Baptists. Enough has been written for this pur- 
pose, for we have seen that Baptists coming singly 
and in colonies, settled first in New England, 
Yirginia and South Carolina, and then spread 
throughout the West and South. 

*Baptist Library, vol. 1, p. 172. flbid. 



230 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

PERSECUTIONS IN AMERICA. 

Enactments against religious liberty. Holmes and 
Painter whipped. Persecutions by Presbyterians 
in Massachusetts. Persecutions in Virginia. 
James Ireland, John Weatherford, Lewis Craig 
and others imprisoned. Persecutions in Southern 
Russia and Cuba at the present time. Persecu- 
tions by Congregationalists in Massachusetts. 
Origin of pulpit affiliation. Imposition of 
hands. Associatio7ial communion. 

THE Baptists had hardly got settled in America 
when they begun to experience persecutions 
similar to those experienced by their ancestors in 
the old countries. 

Massachusetts was at this time under the rule of 
the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the Congre- 
gationalists, or Puritans, as they were generally 
termed, were established by law. In the year 
1664:, an act was passed containing the following 
clause : 

"It is ordered and agreed, that if any person 
or persons, within this jurisdiction, shall either 
openly condemn or oppose the baptizing of in- 
fants, or go about secretly to seduce others from 
the approbation or use thereof, or shall purposely 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 231 

depart the congregation at the ministration of the 
ordinance * * * after due time and means of 
conviction — every such person or persons shall be 
sentenced to banishment."* This law was in- 
tended to operate directly against Baptists. 

In the year 1651, Obadiah Holmes, John 
Crandall and John Clarke, the pastor of the New- 
port Baptist church, were sent by this church to 
Lynn to visit an infirm member, William Witter, 
who resided at that place. The journey was made 
and the next day being the Sabbath, it was de- 
cided to have worship where they were, and that 
Mr. Clarke should preach in order that old Mr. 
Witter might have an opportunity to hear his own 
pastor, whom he had not heard preach for a long 
time. Mr. Clarke's text on the occasion is found 
in Rev. 3:10. "Because thou hast kept the word 
of my patience, 1 also keep thee from the hour of 
temptation, which shall come upon all the world, 
to try them that dwell upon the earth." 

Before Mr. Clarke had proceeded very far in 
his discourse, two constables entered and arrested 
Clarke, Holmes and Crandall under the following 
warrant : 

"By virtue hereof, you are required to go to 
the house of William Witter, and to search from 
house to house for certain erroneous persons, be- 
ing strangers, and them to apprehend, and in safe 

*Cramp's Bap. Hist., p. 464. 



232 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

custody to keep, to-morrow morning, by eight 
o'clock, to bring before me. 

''Robert Bridges."* 

The three persons apprehended were all fined. 
Mr. Crandall was fined five pounds, Mr. Clarke 
twenty pounds and Mr. Holmes thirty pounds. 
The friends of Clarke and Crandall paid their 
fines for them, but Mr. Holmes would not allow 
his fine to be paid, nor would he pay it him- 
self, though he must either pay or be "well 
whipped." So read the sentence. With him it 
was a matter of conscience, and considering the 
punishment unjust, he would rather suffer than 
evade it by permitting his fine to be paid, though 
the offer was made. 

The following is a copy of the sentence against 
Mr. Holmes : 

"Forasmuch as you, Obadiah Holmes, being 
come into this jurisdiction about the 21st of the 
fifth month, did meet at one William Witter's 
house at Lynn, and did here privately (and at 
other times), being an excommunicated person, 
did take upon you to preach and baptize upon the 
Lord's day, or other days, and being taken then 
by the constable, and coming afterward to the 
assembly at Lynn, did, in disrespect to the ordi- 
nance of God and his worship, keep on your hat, 
the pastor being in prayer, insomuch as you would 

*First Bap. Ch. in America, p. 92. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 233 

not give reverence in vailing your hat, till it was 
forced off your head, to the disturbance of the 
congregation, and professing against the institu- 
tion of the church, as not being according to the 
gospel of Jesus Christ ; and that you, the said 
Obadiah Holmes, did, upon the day following, 
meet again at said William Witter' s, in contempt 
to authority, you being then in the custody of the 
law, and did then receive the sacrament, being 
excommunicate, and that you did baptize such as 
were baptized before, and thereby did necessarily 
deny the baptism before administered to be bap- 
tism, the churches no churches, and also other 
ordinances and ministers, as if all was a nullity; 
and did also deny the lawfulness of baptizing in- 
fants ; and all this tends to the dishonor of God 
among us, the peace of the churches, and seducing 
the subjects of this commonwealth from the truth 
of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and perverting the 
straight ways of the Lord ; the court doth fine you 
thirty pounds, to be paid, or sufficient sureties 
that the sum shall be paid by the first day of the 
next Court of Assistance, or else to be well whipt ; 
and that you shall remain in prison till it be paid, 
or security given in for it. 

"By the Court, 

"Increase Norvel."* 

♦Cramp's Bap. Hist., p. 466. 
16 



234: COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

It will be seen that several of these specifica- 
tions were for occurrences which transpired after 
the arrest of Mr. Holmes. It is asserted in the 
sentence that Mr. Holmes, after coming to the 
assembly at Lynn, kept on his hat in the congre- 
gation, the pastor being in prayer. 

The facts are that the three men had been taken 
from Mr. Witter' s house and carried to the Con- 
gregational assembly, against their will, while the 
assembly was at worship. To show their dissent 
the three prisoners kept on their hats, until they 
were rudely removed by the constable.* 

It is also specified in the sentence against Mr. 
Holmes that he, while being in the custody of the 
law, did " receive the sacrament, being excommu- 
nicate," and did baptize such as were baptized 
before. 

Mr. Holmes had formerly belonged to the Con- 
gregationalists, but had abandoned their faith. 

Governor Endicott was present at the trial of 
these men, and said to Mr. Clarke: "You have 
denied infants baptism. You deserve death. I 
will not have such trash brought into my juris- 
diction, "f 

The simple truth is, these men were Baptists 
and preached Baptist doctrines, and had to suffer 
for it as Baptists have always suffered where other 
denominations have had the power. 

*First Bap. Ch. in America, p. 95. flbid, P' 97. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 235 

The sentence was passed against Mr. Holmes 
in July, and he was kept a prisoner until Septem- 
ber when he was taken out to be punished in 
Boston. 

Two magistrates, Nowell and Flint, were pres- 
ent to see it done severely. Mr. Holmes was 
stripped to his waist and whipped with a three 
corded whip. He says, in giving an account of 
his punishment : "I had such a spiritual mani- 
festation of God's presence, as I never had be- 
fore, and the outward pain was so removed from 
me, that I could well bear it, yea, and in a man- 
ner felt it not, although it was grievous, as the 
spectators said, the man striking with all his 
strength, spitting in his hands three times, with a 
three corded whip, giving me therewith thirty 
strokes. When he had loosed me from the post, 
having joyfulness in my heart and cheerfulness in 
my countenance, as the spectators observed, I told 
the magistrates, You have struck me as with roses; 
and said moreover, although the Lord hath made 
it easy to me, yet I pray God it may not be laid 
to your charge."* 

Mr. Holmes said many came to him after his 
punishment, " rejoicing to see the power of the 
Lord manifested in weak flesh." John Hazel and 
John Spur came and shook hands with Mr. 
Holmes, the former not speaking, and the latter 

*Bap. Library, vol. 1, p. 113. 



236 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

only exclaiming, "Blessed be the Lord;" yet 
these two were sentenced to pay forty shillings or 
be whipped. 

Though Mr. Holmes bore his punishment with 
great fortitude, it was not because the constable 
.had any mercy, for when he reached the prison 
his body was found to be terribly lacerated, so 
much so "that in many days, if not some weeks, 
lie could take no rest but as he lay upon his knees 
and elbows, not being able to suffer any part of 
his body to touch the bed whereon he lay."* 

Mr. Holmes says: "When I was come to the 
prison, it pleased God to stir up the heart of an 
old acquaintance of mine, who with much tender- 
ness, like the good Samaritan, poured oil into my 
^wounds, and plastered my sores ; but there was 
present information given of what was done, and 
inquiry made who was the surgeon, and it was 
commonly reported he should be sent for ; but 
what was done, I yet know not. "f 

Mr. Benedict, quoting from Backus, says : "In 
1644, a poor man by the name of Painter was 
suddenly turned Anabaptist, and for refusing to 
have his child baptized, he was complained of to 
the court, who with judicial dignity, interposed 
their authority in the case in favor of the child. 
And because the poor man gave it as his opinion 

*Cramp's Bap. Hist., p. 467. 
fBap. Library, vol. 1. p. 113. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 23 7 

that infant baptism was an anti- Christian ordi- 
nance, he was tied up and whipped."* 

Dr. Ford says: "In 1638, a man was fined in 
Massachusetts for writing against the law for the 
support of religion, and another man for reading 
what the other had written, "f 

In 1770, Massachusetts was under the rule of 
the Puritan Presbyterians, and Baptists were se- 
verely taxed, not only to build their meeting 
houses, but also to settle their pastors. I here 
insert a letter addressed to the Philadelphia Bap- 
tist Association, which shows not only the diffi- 
culties which the Baptists experienced in the early 
settlement of America, but also shows why they 
so earnestly contended for both civil and religious 
liberty in the colonies. This letter was addressed 
to the Philadelphia Association, in 1770, and is 
as follows : 

' ' The laws of this province never were intended 
to exempt the Baptists from paying toward build- 
ing and repairing Presbyterian meeting houses, 
and making up Presbyterian ministers' salaries ; 
for besides other insufficiencies, they are all 
limited both as to extent and duration. The first 
law extended only five miles round each Baptist 
meeting house ; those without this circle had no 
relief, neither had they within ; for, though it ex- 

*Benedict's Bap. Hist., p. 370. 
tBrief Bap. History, p. 66. 



238 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

empted their polls, it left their estate to the mercy 
of harpies and their estates went to wreck. The 
Baptists sought a better law, and with great diffi- 
culty and waste of time and money, obtained it ; 
but this was not universal. It extended not to any 
parish until a Presbyterian meeting house should 
be built, and a Presbyterian minister settled there ; 
in consequence of which the Baptists have never 
been freed from the first and great expense of 
their parishes — expenses equal to the current ex- 
penses of ten or twelve years. This is the present 
case of the people of Ashfield, which is a Baptist 
settlement. There were but five families of other 
denominations in the place when the Baptist 
church was constituted ; but those five and a few 
more, have lately built a Presbyterian meeting 
house there, and settled an orthodox minister, as 
they call him ; which last cost them £200. 

4 ' To pay for both they laid a tax on the land ; 
and, as the Baptists are the most numerous, the 
greatest part fell to their share. The Presby- 
terians, in April last, demanded the money. The 
Baptists pleaded poverty, alleging that they had 
been twice driven from their plantations by the 
Indians' last war ; that they were but new settlers, 
and had cleared out a few spots of land, and had 
not been able to build commodious dwelling 
houses. Their tyrants would not hear. Then the 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 239 

Baptists pleaded the ingratitude of such conduct ; 
for they had built a fort there at their own ex- 
pense, and had maintained it for two years, and 
so had protected the interior Presbyterians, as 
well as their neighbors, who now rose up against 
them ; that the Baptists to the westward had 
raised money to relieve Presbyterians who had, 
like them, suffered by the Indians ; and that it 
was cruel to take from them what the Indians had 
left ! But nothing touched the hearts of these 
cruel people. Then the Baptists urged the law of 
the province ; but were soon told that that law 
extended to no new parish till the meeting house 
and minister were paid for. Then the Baptists 
petitioned the General Court. Proceedings were 
stopped till further orders, and the poor people 
went home rejoicing, thinking their property safe; 
but they had not all got home before said order 
came ; and it was an order for the Presbyterians 
to proceed. Accordingly, in the month of April, 
they fell foul on their plantations ; and not on 
skirts and corners, but on cleared and improved 
spots ; and so have mangled their estates and left 
them hardly, any but a wilderness. They sold the 
house and garden of one man, and the young 
orchards, meadows, and cornfields of others ; nay, 
they sold their dead, for they sold their grave- 
yards. The orthodox minister was one of the 



240 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

purchasers. These spots amounted to three hun- 
dred and ninety-five acres and have since been 
valued at £363-8s., but were sold for £35-10s. 
This was the first payment. Two more are com- 
ing, which will not leave them an inch of land at 
this rate. The Baptists waited on the assembly 
five times this year for relief, but were not heard, 
under pretense they did no business ; but their 
enemies were heard and had their business done. 
At last the Baptists got together about a score of 
the members of Cambridge, and made their com- 
plaints known ; but, in general, they were treated 
very superciliously. One of them spoke to this 
effect : ' The general assembly have a right to do 
what they did, and if you don't like it, you may 
quit the place ! ' But, alas, they must leave their 
all behind ! * * * When they came together to 
mangle the estates of the Baptists, they diverted 
themselves with the tears and lamentations of the 
oppressed. One of them whose name is Wells, 
stood up to preach a mock sermon on the occa- 
sion ; and among other things used words to this 
effect : ' The Baptists for refusing to pay an ortho- 
dox minister, shall be cut in pound pieces, and 
boiled for their fat to grease the devil's carriage, 
etc' "* 

Baptists were also persecuted in Yirginia under 
the rule of the Episcopal church, or church of 

*Ray's Baptist Succession, pp. 273-5. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 241 

England, for u preaching the gospel of the Son of 
God." As many as thirty ministers were impris- 
oned in Virginia for this offence, besides suffering 
all kinds of insults and abuses. 

Among these honored men were James Ireland, 
John Weatherford, Samuel Harriss, John Shackel- 
ford, Lewis and Joseph Craig, John Waller and 
Aaron Bledsoe. All these preachers suffered for 
conscience sake, under Episcopal rule in the Old 
Dominion. Ireland was seized by the throat, on 
one occasion, by the officers of the established 
church, while engaged in prayer in the congrega- 
tion, and immediately hurried away to jail in 
Culpeper. 

"He was accompanied to prison amid the 
abuses of his persecutors, and while incarcerated 
in his cell not only suffered by the extreme in- 
clemency of the weather, but by the personal mal- 
treatment of his foes. They attempted to blow 
him up with gunpowder, but the quantity obtained 
was only sufficient to force up some of the flooring 
of the prison. The individual who led in this in- 
famous conduct was, shortly after, in a hunting 
excursion, and while asleep in the woods, bitten 
by a mad wolf, of which wound he died in the 
most excruciating pain. 

"There was also an attempt made by Elder 
Ireland's enemies to suffocate him, by burning 



242 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

brimstone, etc., at the door and window of his 
prison. A scheme was also formed to poison him. 
But the mercy of God prevented. He states that 
he might speak of a hundred instances of cruelty 
which were practiced. 'I expected,' says he, 
1 every court, to be brought out to the post before 
the gazing multitude ; I sat down and counted the 
cost, and believed through Christ strengthening 
me, I could suffer all things for His sake. It ap- 
pears that their power did not reach so far, or it 
would have been executed.' "- 

Ireland enjoyed so much of the Divine presence 
while in jail that he wrote of it as "my palace in 
Oulpeper." 

The imprisonment of John Weatherford failed 
to close his mouth as a herald of the cross, and he 
preached from the door of his prison as long as he 
was permitted, and when this privilege was denied 
him he preached through the grates of the win- 
dow. Soon his enemies put a stop to this and a 
high wall was built around his jail, so that he 
could not see his congregation. Still this coura- 
geous man was undaunted, and when the congre- 
gation was assembled a handkerchief was tied to 
a pole, as a signal for him to commence preach- 
ing. With his powerful voice this man of God 
would preach so that his listeners could hear him. 
Some souls were converted, as a result of his 

*Lives of Va. Bap. Ministers, First Series, p. 121. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 24:3 

preaching, before his release from prison. Elder 
Chastain, of Buckingham, was sent for who came 
and baptized the converts in the night. 

Weatherford's imprisonment continued five 
months, when through the influence -of Patrick 
Henry, he was liberated.* 

On June 4th, 1768, a number of Baptist minis- 
ters were arrested and brought before the magis- 
trates of Spottsylvania county, Virginia, and 
bound over for trial. Among them were Lewis 
and Joseph Craig, Aaron Bledsoe, John Walker 
and James Childs. The crime, as specified in the 
indictment against those men, was, ' ''For preach- 
ing the Gospel of the Son of God in the colony of 
Virginia. ' ' 

It was at the trial of these men that Patrick 
Henry appeared for their defence, having ridden 
some fifty or sixty miles, in order to be present. 
He poured forth such a torrent of burning elo- 
quence that the judge stopped him before he got 
through with his argument, with the words, 
"Sheriff, discharge those men"\ 

The Lewis Craig just referred to was the same 
who afterwards led his church through the Cum- 
berland gap, and on into the wilds of Kentucky, 
then known as "the dark and bloody ground," 
where he aided in planting Baptist churches. 

*Lives of Va. Bap. Ministers, First Series, p. 52. 
fFord's Origin of the Baptists, p. 19. 



244 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

Joseph Craig is represented as having been a 
man of eccentric character, a few instances of 
which are mentioned. 

On one occasion while preaching at Guinea's 
Bridge he was arrested and an attempt made to 
carry him before a magistrate. " Thinking it no 
dishonor to cheat the devil," as he termed it, he 
slipped off the horse and took to the bushes. 
They hunted him with dogs, but Asahel like, be- 
ing light of foot, he made good his escape. On 
another occasion, being pursued by his persecut- 
ors, he climbed a tree, but was shaken down, his- 
hands tied and an attempt made to carry him to 
court. He then said, < ' If you put Joseph Craig 
in prison, I will have no hand in it," and forth- 
with lay down in the road, and his persecutors had 
to let him go. 

Baptists continued to be persecuted for their 
religious faith by the various denominations, which 
had establishments in the colonies of America, 
until their numbers increased so they could com- 
mand respect. The persecutions did not cease 
finally, however, until the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence was made, and the Constitution of the 
United States guaranteed to them, and all other 
denominations, the fullest liberty in religious mat- 
ters. This has continued until the present time in 
the United States, but the Baptists are at the pres- 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 245 

ent time suffering severe persecutions at the hands 
of the Greek Catholics in Southern Russia, of 
which mention has already been made. 

The Baptists are also suffering persecutions in 
Cuba at the hands of the Roman Catholics. 
A. J. Diaz, a Cuban, was converted a few years 
ago in New York, and led to embrace Baptist 
principles by reading the New Testament. He 
returned immediately to his native land, and com- 
menced teaching his countrymen the religion of 
the New Testament. Soon it was ascertained that 
he and those whom he had led to the truth had, 
though unconsciously, embraced Baptist doctrines. 

Mr. Diaz was ordained to the ministry by the 
Baptist church at Key West, Florida, and com- 
menced the work of establishing churches in the 
-city of Havana in the year 1886. The work has 
extended throughout the Island until there are, 
to-day, more than two thousand Baptists in Cuba. 

In 1890, Mr. Diaz and two of his companions 
in the ministry, D. Herrera and A. Godinis, were 
imprisoned at the instigation of the Catholic 
priests. The complaints were unfounded, and 
they were finally liberated. Repeated efforts have 
been made to drive Mr. Diaz from Cuba, but he 
says he will stay there and preach while the Lord 
will let him live. 

The line of demarkation has been drawn by 



246 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

other denominations all along the past, and no 
sympathy was ever shown the Baptists, nor did 
any other denomination ever desire to affiliate 
with them in any way, until their rapidly increas- 
ing numbers enabled them to command respect. 

In 1679, the Baptists built a meeting house in 
Boston, but did it so cautiously that others did 
not know what it was designed for until they oc- 
cupied it in February of the same year. In May 
following a law was made to take it from them, if 
they continued to meet in it, so they had to 
refrain, says Backus, from meeting in it for a 
time. News of this was sent to England, and the 
king interf erred in their behalf. 4 ' Some friends 
in London informed the Baptists of this, upon 
which they met in their house again, but their 
chief leaders were brought before the Court of 
Assistants for it, in March, 1680 ; and because 
they would not promise not to meet there again, 
the court sent an officer, who nailed up the doors 
of their house, and forbid their meeting there any 
more upon their peril, without leave from the 
court."* 

A law was passed in Massachusetts in 1715, 
"to require each county to charge the grand jury 
to prosecute every town or district which neg- 
lected. to settle or support such ministers as they 
called orthodox ; if they could not bring them to 

*Bap. Lib., vol. 1, p. 131. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 247 

do it, the court was to make complaint to the 
Legislature, and they were to order such sums to 
be assessed on delinquent towns as they judged 
proper, and the ministers were to draw their 
salaries out of the State treasury."* 

The Congregationalists were foremost in Mas- 
sachusetts in securing the passage of such laws as 
the above, in nailing up Baptist meeting houses, 
and in bringing Baptist preachers before the 
courts. Notwithstanding this, in 1718, less than 
forty years after they nailed up the Baptist meet- 
ing house in Boston, Dr. Increase Mather, his 
son, and a Mr. Webb, all Congregational preach- 
ers, were invited to aid in the ordination of a 
Baptist preacher in that city. 

In May of this year Mr. Elisha Callender was 
called to the pastorate of the Baptist church in 
Boston. Dr. Increase Mather wrote a preface to 
the ordination sermon, says Mr. Backus, in which 
he said : "It was a grateful surprise to me, when 
several brethren of the Antipedobaptist persuasion 
came to me, desiring that I would give them the 
right hand of fellowship in ordaining one whom 
they had chosen to be their pastor, "f 

This is the first account we have of Baptists 
affiliating with any other denomination in this 
way. The long, dark night of persecutions, no 
doubt led them to crave the sympathy of those 

*Bap. Library, vol. 1, p. 136. flbid, p. 137. 



24:8 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

who had been their persecutors. The practice of 
pulpit affiliation became somewhat general in later 
years, and no doubt originated the adoption of 
alien immersions in some of our churches, neither 
of which practice was heard of before the begin- 
ning of the eighteenth century. Other denomina- 
tions would not condescend to affiliate with Bap- 
tists, and the universal practice of what was 
considered <m&baptism upon the part of the Bap- 
tists, was one of the prime causes. 

The imposition of hands after baptism, was a 
common custom among the Baptists in the seven- 
teenth century, both in Europe and America, says 
Cathcart, though it never was a general practice. 
Its observance often occasioned bitter controver- 
sies, which sometimes rent churches. This cus- 
tom was based on the supposition that it was an 
ordinance of Christ, and was supposed to rest 
upon Scriptural example. The practice has long 
since been abandoned, as being without Scriptural 
warrant. 

It was also the custom of the Baptists in 
America at one time, in some localities at least, 
to observe the Lord's Supper when convened in 
their annual meetings. It is recorded of the 
Baptists of Texas, in their State Convention of 
1854, that "on Sabbath in the afternoon, a very 
large number of Baptists from different parts of 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 24:9 

the State, met and communed together around 
the sacramental board."* 

This practice of observing the Lord's Supper 
in Associational capacity, as well as some other 
loose practices, has also been abandoned and is 
remembered only by our oldest members. 

Perhaps none of our churches in modern times 
have become as irregular in practice and discipline 
as the church at Corinth, yet this church was re- 
garded by an inspired apostle as a true church, 
though in error. A constant appeal to the word 
of God by the Baptists, purges out any false doc- 
trine and keeps their churches pure. 

*Texas Hist, and Biog. Mag-., vol. 1, p. 334. 

Note. — The persecutions which the Baptists endured, 
as shown in the preceding chapter, have been recorded in 
no spirit of unkindness, but for the two-fold purpose of 
showing the dangers attending a union of church and 
State, and the price which they have paid to secure for 
themselves and others, both civil and religious liberty. 
Let them and all others who would enjoy this boon, guard 
against all such unholy alliances in the future, and watch 
with an anxious eye the insidious advances of Romanism 
which is seeking the overthrow of our Independence as 
a nation, that our religious liberties may be brought to 
an end. 



250 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

CHAPTEK XX. 

BAPTISTS AND KELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 

Baptists and religious liberty in Germany. Strug- 
gles for religious and civil liberty in America. 
General assessment bill defeated in Virginia by 
Baptists. General Washington^ testimony to 
Baptist loyalty. Constitutional provision for 
equal religious rights. Baptists oppose a union 
of church and State. Testimony of Ypeij and 
Dermout to the origin of the Baptists. Testi- 
mony of Alexander Campbell to the origin of the 
Baptists. What Baptists have accomplished in 
one century. 

BAPTISTS have always been advocates of 
religious liberty. This constitutes one of 
their fundamental principles. They have always 
claimed the right for themselves, and others, to 
worship God according to their understanding of 
His word. They have always opposed a union 
of church and State, and have refused to accept 
any legislation in religious matters for themselves, 
and have opposed it for others. 

Mr. Orchard, in writing of the Baptists of Ger- 
many at the close of the fifteenth century, says : 
"But amidst all the sectaries of religion, and 
teachers of the gospel in Germany at this time, 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 251 

the Baptists best understood the doctrine of relig- 
ious liberty; to them, therefore, the peasants 
turned their eyes for counsel ; and to their im- 
mortal honor be it recorded, that the Baptists were 
always on the side of liberty. Under whatever 
government they could realize this boon, whether 
Pagan, Saracen, or Christian, domestic or foreign ; 
that dynasty which would guard their freedom, 
was their government. This might be traced in 
all their migratory movements, from the Italian 
dissenters to the Khode Island settlement."* 

It has been truly said that the Baptists were 
the only people who labored to secure religious 
liberty in the formation of the government of the 
United States. Indeed it is owing to their efforts 
more than all others combined that we to-day 
enjoy both civil and religious liberty. The Bap- 
tists had been preceded in America by other de- 
nominations which had already, in some instances, 
become established by the government. In Vir- 
ginia the Baptists were the strongest, though the 
Episcopal church, or church of England, was 
established in that colony. Every effort was made 
by the Baptists to overthrow the establishment, 
not to secure it themselves, but to secure for 
themselves and others equal liberty in religious 
matters. Their ministers had been rudely cast 
into prison, and their members were heavily taxed 

•*Orchard's Bapt. Hist., p. 339. 



252 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

to build houses and to support ministers of the 
established church. Of their efforts in this direc- 
tion Mr. Cook, in his " Story of the Baptists," 
says : 

"In 1779, the salaries of the clergy of the 
establishment were taken away; the general assess- 
ment bill was defeated and the famous act for 
establishing freedom prepared by Thomas Jeffer- 
son was presented. Efforts were made in 1784, 
to restore in a measure the disestablished church. 
The general assessment bill permitting the taxation 
of the people for the support of religion, the tax 
collected to be distributed among the different 
denominations, was revived and postponed. All 
other denominations as a whole, favored, advo- 
cated and petitioned for it, except the Baptists. 
They were the only ones who plainly remon- 
strated, says Semple. They stood alone in oppo- 
sition to it. The general committee remonstrated. 
To defeat the bill they resorted to petitions. 
Papers protesting against the bill were circulated 
everywhere by them, for signatures for presenta- 
tion to the assembly. 'When the assembly met, 
the table of the House of Delegates almost sunk 
under the weight of the accumulated copies of the 
memorial sent forward from the different counties, 
each with its long dense column of subscribers. 
The fate of the assessment was sealed. ' Besides, 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 253 

Jefferson's act for the establishment of religious 
freedom was at once passed."* 

The same writer further says : ' ' The work of 
the Baptists in Virginia, was not, however, done. 
They had still another battle to fight in Congress 
for the overthrow of ecclesiastical establishments, 
and for securing constitutional liberty throughout 
the land. The danger was not passed. Dr. Cath- 
cart quotes Thomas Jefferson, who says : ' There 
was a hope confidentially cherished, about A. D. 
1780, that there might be a State church through- 
out the United States, and this expectation was 
specially cherished by Episcopalians and Congre- 
gationalists. John Adams believed in leaving the 
matter to the States, each State having its own 
establishment. This design it was the work of the 
Baptists to frustrate. They did not want the Con- 
stitution of the United States, nor of any State, to 
be made a religious creed, but they were deter- 
mined to have religious liberty for themselves and 
all the world. '"f 

I quote the following from Backus' History of 
the Baptists in New England: " After General 
Washington was established as President of these 
United States, a general committee of the Baptist 
churches in Yirginia presented an address to him, 
in August, 1789, wherein they expressed an high 
regard for him ; but a fear that our religious rights 

* Story of the Baptists, p. 244. flbid, p. 248. 



254: COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

were not well secured in our new constitution of 
government. In answer to which, he assured 
them of his readiness to use his influence to make 
them more secure, and then said, ' While I recol- 
lect with satisfaction, that the religious society of 
which you are members, have been throughout 
America, uniformly and almost unanimously the 
firm friends of civil liberty, and the persevering 
promoters of our glorious revolution, I cannot 
hesitate to believe, that they will be the faithful 
supporters of a free, yet efficient general govern- 
ment. ' An amendment to the constitution was 
made the next month, which says, ' Congress shall 
make no law, establishing articles of faith, or 
mode of worship, or prohibiting the free exercise 
of religion, or abridging the freedom of speech, 
or of the press, or the right of the people peace- 
ably to assemble, and to petition to the govern- 
ment for a redress of grievances.' "* 

It is frequently stated that any denomination 
would avail itself of State support if the oppor- 
tunity were offered. Whatever may be the appli- 
cation of such a statement to other denominations, 
it is a reflection upon Baptists and Baptist prin- 
ciples. Those who know % our history and our 
principles, know that we have always opposed a 
union of church and State with as much persist- 
ency as we have opposed infant baptism. And in 

*Bap. Library, vol. 1, p. 164. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 255 

answer to the question, Would the Baptists become 
established by State if the opportunity were given, 
we answer, Eo ! No ! The very hour that any 
Baptist churches form such an alliance, they are 
guilty of harlotry, in the ecclesiastical use of that 
term, and cease to be churches of Christ. The 
very idea is contrary to the genius of Baptist 
churches. The opportunity has been theirs and 
they have always refused it. I quote again from 
Dr. Kichard Cook, as follows : 

"In Virginia, in 1792, 'the Baptists had mem- 
bers of great weight in civil society; their congre- 
gations had become more numerous than any 
other Christian sect.' They doubtless controlled 
the government of Virginia, and yet they secured 
equal liberty there for all. In Wales, the Baptist 
churches and ministers declined State support by 
taxation of the people, such as others received, 
which was offered them, though they were as poor 
as any. For one hundred and fifty years, the 
Baptists had the sole power and rule in Rhode 
Island, and the evil example of others around 
them, but, unmoved in their principles, they used 
their power for the good of all alike. The utter 
failure of Baptist principles has been again and 
again foretold, but Baptists have stood the test of 
centuries, and they have, more than any others, 
given civil and religious freedom to the world. 



256 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

With the origin and perpetuity of American 
liberty they have had much to do."* 

In February, 1785, the Georgia Legislature 
passed an act for the support of religion in that 
State, which provided that "thirty heads of fami- 
lies might choose a minister to explain and incul- 
cate the duties of religion in any county in the 
State." The manner of choosing was to be by 
subscription, and to be certified to by an assistant 
judge and two magistrates, on which the governor 
was to give an order on the treasurer to pay out 
the money for the support of a minister chosen in 
that^way. 

Since the Baptists were more numerous than 
any other denomination in Georgia at that time, 
this act would have given them an immense 
advantage, but instead of taking it, they, in May 
following at a meeting of the Georgia Baptist 
Association, entered a most earnest remonstrance 
against the law, and asked for its repeal. These 
facts abundantly show their position on this 
question. 

Having traced the history of the Baptists from 
the days of the apostles to the present time, and 
briefly narrated some of their struggles for the 
promulgation of their doctrines in America, it is 
well to introduce some important testimonies as 

*Story of the Baptists, p. 251. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 257 

to their origin and history, looking back over 
their entire existence. 

The king of Holland on one occasion appointed 
'a committee to prepare a history of the Dutch 
Reformed church. This committee devoted one 
chapter to the history of the Baptists. The author 
of the Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge 
gives the following account of this committee and 
their testimony: 

"An account of the origin of the Dutch Bap- 
tists, or Mennonites, was published at Beda, in 
1819, by Dr. Ypeij, professor of theology at 
Gronigen, anil Rev. I. J. Dermout, chaplain to 
the King of the Netherlands, learned Pedobap- 
tists." These learned men, having access to the 
best libraries of Germany, reported as follows : 

"We have now seen that the Baptists who were 
formerly called Anabaptists, and in latter times, 
Mennonites, were the original Waldenses ; and 
who have long in the history of the church, re- 
ceived the honor of that origin. On this account 
the Baptists may be considered as the only Chris- 
tian community which has stood since the days of 
the apostles, and as a Christian society, which has 
preserved pure the doctrines of the Gospel through 
all ages. The perfectly correct external and in- 
ternal economy of the Baptist denomination, tends 
to confirm the truth, disputed by the Romish 



258 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

church, that the reformation brought about in the 
sixteenth century, was in the highest degree neces- 
sary; and at the same time, goes to refute the 
erroneous notion of the Catholics, that their com- 
munion is the most ancient."* 

Alexander Campbell, in his debate with Pur- 
cell, page 65, as quoted in the Ray-Lucas discus- 
sion, bore the following testimony to the history 
of the Baptists. He says : 

"We can, however, show that from the earliest 
times there has existed a people whom no man 
can number, that have earnestly and consistently 
contended for the true faith once delivered to the 
saints." 

There can be no doubt that Mr. Campbell re- 
ferred to the Baptists in the above quotation as is 
seen from the following, taken from the Campbell 
and Maccalla debate, page 378, as quoted in the 
same work : "From the apostolic age to the pres- 
ent time, the sentiments of Baptists and their 
practice of baptism, has had a continued chain of 
advocates, and public monuments of their exist- 
ence in every century can be produced." 

In the Campbell and Walker debate, page 262, 
Mr. Campbell states as follows : 

"The Baptists can trace their origin to the 
apostolic times, and produce unequivocal testi- 

*See Article, Mennonites in Ency. Rel. Knowl. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 259 

mony of their existence in every century down to 
the present time." 

In summing up the history of the Baptists we 
can but exclaim, < ' What hath God wrought ! ' ' 
For nearly eighteen hundred years they were op- 
pressed by every other existing church organiza- 
tion. Again and again every effort was made to 
blot out their very memory from the face of the 
earth. They have been martyred by the hundred 
thousand for their principles, robbed of their 
property, and driven from country to country. 
Every century of their history has been stained 
with blood. Yet from the ashes of their martyrs 
and the blood spilled by the inquisitors, the cry 
has continually gone up for religious liberty and 
freedom of conscience. Yet to-day we live — live 
to bless the world by contending for a converted 
membership and a pure church. 

Though only one hundred years have passed 
since we have been granted equal rights with 
others in religious matters, we, to-day, in the 
United States alone, number more than three mil- 
lion communicants. Our missionaries have pene- 
trated every land, and, with an open Bible, are 
contending for the faith of the gospel as taught by 
Christ and his apostles. 

Our splendid schools and colleges are to be 
found in every State of the Union, as numerous 



260 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTOEY. 

as those of any other denomination, while our 
universities are being endowed with millions of 
dollars. If this much has been done in the past 
hundred years by so few in the beginning, what 
may we not expect during the next century ! 

Since these struggling Baptists have survived 
the long ages of persecution, and passed through 
such a long night of suffering and have now 
attained such magnificent results, must we not 
exclaim that their 's are the churches of the living 
God, and their Founder and Head is Jesus Christ 1 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 261 

CHAPTEK XXI. 

CHURCH SUCCESSION. 

Welsh Baptists and their early ministers. The 
Piedmont of the Welsh Baptists. Their Churches 
and Associations. English Baptists originate as 
did the Welsh. Some old churches and inter- 
esting facts. Churches which existed before the 
Reformation. A succession of churches. 

WE have traced the Baptists by their princi- 
ples, and have found them existing, under 
different names, but holding to the same doc- 
trines, from the days of the apostles to the pres- 
ent time. It is not necessary for the preservation 
of their history, to show a continuation of churches 
during all this time, for the principles which char- 
acterize these people could not have been per- 
petuated without existing organizations at the 
same time. One of the most important principles 
of Baptists is the belief that a church of Christ is 
a body of believers, convened together in cove- 
nant relations, for the objects and ends to be at- 
tained by the gospel of Christ. 

We have seen that the word ekklesia, which is 
translated church, conveys the two-fold idea of 
being called out and convened together. In order 



262 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

that Christ's church should be perpetuated, then, 
it must of necessity have continued to meet to- 
gether in organized capacity. Without organiza- 
tion there is no eklclesia — no church. Whether we 
can trace them or not, these churches have existed 
during all the ages from the time of Christ until 
the present. 

An undercurrent of pure water cannot spring up 
on the coast of one continent and make its way 
through the salt sea waters to the other shore, and 
then come to the surface without preserving its 
identity all the way through, though it may not 
be seen. Let the current once be broken, and 
mingling with the greater quantity it is lost for- 
ever. The Atlantic cable crosses the ocean, but 
it covers every inch of the line in its track. There 
is cable all the way. So there have been churches 
all the time since Christ said, ' c Behold, I am with 
you alway, unto the end of the world." 

Or, take this illustration : There is a railroad 
track two thousand miles long. A train of cars is 
seen to start on the farther end of the track with 
coaches unlike any other coaches. These are 
freighted with passengers who speak a dialect un- 
like any other dialect spoken. We follow the 
train for a distance of four hundred miles when it 
disappears in a tunnel and is seen no more for a 
distance of one thousand miles when it again 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 263 

appears and proceeds to the end of the track. 
The cars which come out of the tunnel are iden- 
tical in every feature with those which entered on 
the other side, and the passengers speak the same 
dialect spoken by those who were known to have 
occupied the cars until they disappeared from 
sight. Further testimony shows that subsequent 
explorers find at every eyelet in the tunnel evi- 
dences upon the walls, of a dialect which has been 
spoken only by the persons occupying these 
coaches. Who will say that the cars did not pass 
through % 

Had it not been for the persecutions, and the 
efforts made to ''destroy the very memory " of the 
Baptists from the face of the earth, we would 
have been able to trace their history church by 
church back to Jerusalem. For nearly one thou- 
sand years our history can be traced just this way, 
with only one break in the line of succession. Or 
in other words we can follow the cable of succes- 
sion one-fourth of the way back to the apostles, 
when it is lost sight of in the dark night of popery, 
but following on we come in sight of it again four 
hundred years this side of the apostles, and fol- 
low church by church to the beginning. During 
this period of time when we lose sight of the 
churches as organizations, and their records are 
destroyed, we find the same people existing, hold- 



264 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

ing to the same doctrines, and fleeing from place 
to place, yet numerous as the sands of the sea. 
We conclude, therefore, that they perpetuated 
their organization during the whole period of time. 

We have found the Spring Hill church, in Ten- 
nessee, with a number of others which grew out 
of it, existing at the present time, and have traced 
it back through Saw Mill church, South Carolina, 
and this church through Welsh Neck and Welsh 
Tract churches back to Wales. Here is a line of 
succession, unbroken, of the Baptist churches in 
America continuing for two hundred years, and 
connecting them with the Welsh Baptists. 

But where did the Welsh Baptists come from? 
Mr. Ray says: "No living historian, whether 
friend or foe, can find the origin of the Welsh 
Baptists this side of the apostles."* 

Mr. Davis, in his history of the Welsh Baptists, 
says that many families from Wales were visiting 
Rome during Paul's imprisonment there in A. D. 
63. f Among them was a woman named Claudia, 
who was married to a man named Pudence. 
; 'Pudence and Claudia, his wife, who belonged 
to Caesar's household, under the blessing of God 
on Paul's preaching, were brought to the knowl- 
edge of the truth as it is in Jesus, and made a 
profession of the Christian religion. These, to- 

*Baptist Succession, p. 446. 
tActs 28:30. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 265 

gether with other Welshmen, among the Roman 
soldiers, who had tasted that the Lord was gra- 
cious, exerted themselves on the behalf of their 
countrymen in Wales who were at that time vile 
idolators."* 

Christianity was in this way introduced into the 
highest families of the Welsh people, Claudia 
being a daughter of the Welsh king, Caractacus. 

Nothing of importance is communicated with 
reference to these Christians until the year 180, 
when two Welshmen whose names were Faganus 
and Damicanus were converted in Rome and "be- 
coming eminent ministers of the gospel were sent 
from Rome to assist their brethren in Wales." 

The Welsh occupied that part of the Isle of 
Britain now known as England until about A. D. 
500, "But ever since," says Mr. Davis, "they 
have dwelt on a tract of land, on the western part 
of the island, now called Cumry, or Wales. The 
Welshmen, for a considerable time, had a sort of 
religious quarrel with one of their countrymen, of 
the name of Morgan, known abroad by the name 
of Felagius. The civil war between them and the 
Scots and Picts, was by no means a friend to 
religion ; and the measures they took in calling in 
the Saxons to assist them, in the year 449, were 
very injudicious ; for the Saxons never returned 

*Davis' Hist. Welsh Bap., p. 7. 

18 



266 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

to their own country. After many bloody and 
desperate battles for many years, the Saxons by 
stratagems too horrid to mention drove the Welsh 
to the mountains and took possession of their 
land."* 

Mr. Davis mentions Gildas, Dyfrig, Dynawt, 
Teilo, Padaru, Pawlin, Daniel, and some others 
as having been ministers among the Welsh Bap- 
tists as early as A. D. 600. Dynawt was a man 
of learning and was president of the College of 
Bangor, f 

Soon after the year 600, Austin came from 
Rome to convert the Saxons from paganism to 
popery. Having succeeded in a great measure in 
England, he resolved to try his experiments upon 
the Welsh. He was, however, disappointed. The 
Welsh agreed to meet with Austin in an associa- 
tion held on the borders of Herefordshire. Austin 
said he would propose three things to the Welsh 
ministers and messengers of the different churches 
of the Principality. First he proposed infant bap- 
tism. "He was answered immediately by the 
Welsh, that they would keep this ordinance, as 
well as other things, as they had received them 
from the apostolic age. On hearing this, Austin 
was exceedingly wroth, and pursuaded the Saxons 
to murder one thousand and two hundred of the 

*Davis' Hist. Welsh Bap., p. 11. flbid. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 267 

Welsh ministers and delegates then present ; and 
many more afterwards were put to death, because 
they would not submit to infant baptism."* 

The majority of the Welsh people, however, 
submitted to popery, more out of fear than love, 
and but little is known of their religious history 
up to the time of the reformation. Mr. Davis 
says that Theophilus Evans "traces the remnant 
of the Welsh Baptists through the darkness of 
popery to the year 1000." He also says that 
"Peter Williams, a Methodist preacher, who wrote 
an exposition on the Old and New Testaments in 
Welsh, has followed them through the thick 
clouds till they were buried out of sight in the 
smoke, in the year of our Lord, 1115. "f 

The Welsh Baptists, according to Mr. Davis, 
were not destroyed in this time of persecution, but 
many of them hid away in their mountain fast- 
nesses and maintained an existence all along 
through the dark reign of popery. ' ' The vale of 
Carleon is situated between England and the 
mountainous part of Wales, just at the foot of 
the mountains. It is our valley of Piedmont ; the 
mountains of Merthyn Tydfyl, our Alps ; and 
the crevices of the rocks, the hiding-places of the 
lambs of the sheep of Christ, where the ordinances 
of the gospel, to this day, have been administered 

*Davis' Hist. Welsh Bap., p. 14. flbid, p. 15. 



268 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

in their primitive mode, without being adulterated 
by the corrupt church of Rome."* 

We see, therefore, that the Welsh and English 
Baptists had their wilderness period, correspond- 
ing in date and period of time with that of the 
Baptists in Italy, France and Spain. 

In the year 1586, John ab Henry, called by the 
^English John Penry, who was an Episcopal min- 
ister in both the colleges of Oxford and Cam- 
bridge, dissented from the church of England and 
became a Baptist. Mr. Davis says that he at once 
became a ''ringleader of those Baptists in Wales, 
who never had and never would bow the knee to 
the great beast of Rome, nor any of his horns in 
England. He was noted for piety, ministerial gifts, 
and zeal for the welfare of his countrymen. He 
was a native of Brecknockshire, and the first who 
publicly preached the gospel among the Baptists in 
Wales, after the reformation ; which implies that 
the gospel was, more or less, privately preached 
among the Baptists in the Welsh mountains dur- 
ing the whole reign of popery, "f 

William Jones was brought up a Presbyterian 
and was imprisoned under the rule of Charles II. 
He became converted to Baptist principles while 
in prison, and on his release traveled eighty miles 
in order to be baptized. This shows the impor- 
tance the Welsh Baptists attached to regular bap- 

*Davis' Hist. Welsh Bap., p. 19. flbid, p. 25. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 269 

tism. On his return he baptized eleven others. 
This was the beginning of the church at Rhyd- 
wilim, which was constituted in the year 1668, 
and had grown to eight hundred members in 1835. 

The first Baptist Association held in Wales 
after the reformation was held at Abergavenny, 
on the 14th and 15th days of June, 1653. Only 
five churches were represented which were as 
follows : Olchon, Llantrisaint, Llanwenarth, Swan- 
sea, and Carmarthen. The names of twenty-four 
messengers appear on the minutes. This Asso- 
ciation continued to meet from this time, almost 
every year, without interruption, and in 1689, the 
Welsh Baptists published their Confession of 
Faith, which was adopted by the Philadelphia 
Baptist Association in 1742. 

These facts with reference to the Welsh Bap- 
tists have been compiled from Davis' history. 
Davis was a Welshman and obtained most of the 
information contained in his history from a his- 
tory of the Welsh Baptists by Rev. Joshua 
Thomas, a native of Wales. 

1 find by consulting the Baptist Hand Book of 
Great Britain and Ireland, for 1891, that the 
church at Wrexham is the oldest Baptist church 
in Wales which is in existence at the present time. 
This church was constituted in 1630. Rev. Philip 
A. Hudgell is the present pastor. 



270 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

Mr. Benedict, quoting Memoirs of the English 
Baptists, by Rev. Josiah Taylor, says: "About 
sixty years after the ascension of our Lord, Chris- 
tianity was planted in Britain, and a number of 
royal blood and many of inferior birth were called 
to be saints. Here the gospel nourished much in 
early times, and here, also, its followers endured 
many afflictions and calamities from pagan perse- 
cutions. The British Christians experienced va- 
rious changes of prosperity and adversity, until 
about the year 600. A little previous to this 
period, Austin, the monk, with about forty others 
were sent here by Pope Gregory the Great to 
convert the pagans to popery, and to subject all 
the British Christians to the dominion of Borne. 
The enterprise succeeded, and conversion (or 
rather perversion) work was performed on a large 
scale. King Ethelbert, and his court, and a con- 
siderable part of his kingdom were won over by 
the successful monk, who consecrated the river 
Swale, near York, in which he caused to be bap- 
tized ten thousand of his converts in a single day. 

Having met with so much success in England, 
he resolved to try what he could do in Wales. 
There were many British Christians who had fled 
hither in former times to avoid the brutal ravages 
of the outrageous Saxons. The monk held a 
synod in the neighborhood, and sent to their pas- 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 271 

tors to request them to receive the pope's com- 
mandment ; but they utterly refused to listen to 
either the monk or the pope ; or to adopt any of 
their maxims. Austin meeting with this prompt 
refusal, endeavored to compromise matters with 
these strenuous Welshmen, and requested that they 
would consent to hear him in three things, one of 
which was that they would give Christendom, that 
is, baptism to their children ;* but with none of his 
propositions would they comply, "f 

*Note. — " The chief conditions of uniformity proposed 
by the Roman prelate of the English church were the 
three following : 

"First, that the Welsh should observe the festival of 
Easter, which from the peculiar religious associations of 
the Romish church, at that time, was the great test- 
question of papal allegiance, and the non-observance of 
which was incompatible with their communion with the 
papal church. Although the controversy was nominally 
concerning the time of the great festival of Easter, the 
real principle was the question of spiritual bondage to 
Rome, or of the unfettered liberty of conscience in 
religion. 

' ' The second condition proposed by the English prelate 
was, their ecclesiastical subjugation to his own suprem- 
acy; and this involved the great principle as to whether 
Christ should be king in his own kingdom, and the prac- 
tical question of the union of church and State, and the 
original independence of each church. 

"The third term of uniformity submitted by Austin 
was, that they should give Christendom — which, in the 

fBenedict's Hist, of the Bap., p. 343. 



272 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

We have already seen the result upon the part 
of the Welsh Baptists in rejecting the propositions 
of Austin. 

The Baptist historians in England, says Bene- 
dict, contend that the first British Christians were 
Baptists, and that they maintained Baptist prin- 
ciples until the coming of Austin. Since that 
time "the church in the Island was divided into 
two parts, the old and the new. The old, or Bap- 
tist church maintained their original principles. 
But the new church adopted infant baptism, and 
the rest of the multiplying superstitions of 
Kome."* 

From this time until the reformation we can 
catch only glimpses of the Baptists in England, 
almost losing sight of the churches as organiza- 
tions during this time, but a people holding to 
Baptist principles were known to exist during all 
this period. They were compelled to hold their 
meetings in secret, and their church records, if 
discovered, were destroyed. Mr. Benedict, in a 
note, page 337, says : "From all the fragments of 
history, I am inclined to the belief that Baptist 

language of the times meant baptism — to their children. 
And this involved the great religious doctrine of personal 
responsibility, and experimental faith." — Quoted in Bene- 
dict's Hist. Bap., p. 344. 

*Quoted by Benedict, p. 343, from Memoirs of the Eng- 
lish Baptists. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 273 

churches under various circumstances, have ex- 
isted in England from the time of William the 
Conqueror (about 1050), four or five centuries 
prior to those of which any definite accounts have 
come down to us ; and that the more the history 
of the dark ages is explored, the more this opin- 
ion will be confirmed. Baptist churches, in per- 
secuting times, were merely household affairs — 
which must of necessity, be hid from public view. 
More than three centuries had elapsed before any 
of the Baptists in England had any knowledge 
that a church of their order once existed in Ches- 
terton, in 1457. Mr. R. Robinson brought the 
facts to light by examining the MS. records of 
the old bishop of Ely; and no doubt many other 
such discoveries might be made, if similar records 
were consulted." 

Whether the church at Chesterton, referred to 
by Mr. Benedict, is the old Hill Cliffe church, in 
the county of Chester, England, I have no means 
of knowing, but it is certain that Hill Cliffe church 
ante-dates the reformation, for it was in a flour- 
ishing condition in 1522, and has continued to 
exist to the present time. The Baptist Hand Book 
of Great Britain and Ireland, for 1891, gives 1522, 
as the date of its organization, but a history of the 
church, published in 1882, says: "We cannot go 
back to the foundation of the Hill Cliffe church, 



274 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

because at the time the earliest reference is made 
to it, it was then in a nourishing condition, and 
the very reference itself points to its earlier ex- 
istence." 

Kev. D. O. Davies, of Kochdale, England, who 
attended the Southern Baptist Convention, at 
Birmingham, in 1891, as a representative of the 
English Baptists, in a recent letter to the writer 
says of this church : 

"The oldest Baptist church in the country is 
Hill Cliffe, in Cheshire, but on the borders of 
Lancashire. The old church was built in a se- 
cluded spot, far removed from public roads and 
enclosed by a thick wood. Tradition declares that 
the church is five hundred years old. A tomb- 
stone was recently discovered in the burial ground 
of the place, bearing date, 1357. In digging the 
foundation to enlarge the old chapel, a large bap- 
tistery was discovered which was made of stone 
and well cemented. - The baptistery must have 
belonged to a previous chapel. Oliver Cromwell 
worshipped at this church, and one of his officers 
occupied the pulpit. It is one of the pre-historic 
churches, and a regular Baptist church."* 

*It was in digging the foundation to enlarge the old 
chapel that this baptistery was discovered, and not the 
present one. How far this would carry us back no one 
can tell. They usually build houses in England to last 
for generations. The church at Steventon, Bedfordshire, 



I 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 275 

The history of Hill Cliffe church, with which 
I have been kindly furnished, discloses many 
interesting facts. "The selection of Hill Cliffe," 
says the author, "as a place of meeting for 
Christian worshippers can only be accounted for 
on the ground that the great object in view was 
concealment from their persecutors. It would be 
impossible to have chosen a better place for the 
purpose. Surrounded as it was until recent times 
by woods, at a safe distance also from the public 
highways, and very near the boundaries of the 
counties of Lancaster and Chester, it was as safe 
a place as could possibly have been found in those 
dark days of persecution. Whenever the perse- 
cuting spirit was found in Lancashire, then the* 
people would worship at Hill Cliffe, but when the 
persecuting spirit in Cheshire was the stronger, 
the people worshipped at Warrington, there being 
at the earliest time of which there remain any 
records of the existence of Hill Cliffe Chapel, a 
meeting-house in connection therewith at War- 
rington."* Warrington is distant from Hill Cliffe 
one and a half miles. 

In 1704, Rev. Francis Turner was called to the 
pastorate of this church, of which fact Mr. Davis 

was constituted in 1355, and the congregation worshipped 
in a barn sixty-six years. They built a house in 1721, 
which they still occupy—a period of 170 years. 
*Hist. Hill Cliffe Ch., p. 7. 



276 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

makes mention in his history of the Welsh Bap- 
tists, and the records state that in May, 1705, the 
church "paid charges when Mr. Turner's family 
came to Warrington, £0:12s:08-Jd," and on "July 
ye 2nd, 1705, pd. to Bro. Turner, 6:15:0." This 
was probably the first salary paid to the new 
minister. 

This church extended branches out in every 
direction which it designated as "quarters," and 
the records show that it received subscriptions, or 
contributions, from Liverpoole "quarter," Ches- 
ter, Bickerton, Nampwick and Newton quarters. 

The quarter at Liverpoole was formed in 1701, 
but did not become entirely independent of the 
mother church until after "July ye 3d, 1714, "for 
at this time the church at Liverpoole asked per- 
mission of the Hill Cliffe church to settle a pastor, 
and acknowledged their obligations to support 
Bro. Turner at Hill Cliffe. 

It is worthy of mention that the present pastor 
of this old church, Kev. A. Kenworthy, to whose 
courtesy I am indebted for its published history, 
has been preceded in the pastoral office at Hill 
Cliffe by his father, his grandfather and his great 
grandfather, but not in regular succession. Rev. 
A. Kenworthy, Sr., served the church for a period 
of thirty-seven consecutive years. 

"Eythorne Baptist church," says Mr. Davies in 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 277 

the letter already referred to, ' £ was founded not 
later than 1550. Joan Boucher, or Joan of Kent, 
was a member of this church. She was a lady of 
means, a zealous Christian, and on May 2d, 1550, 
she was led to the stake. The church still exists. 

"Braintree, sometimes spoken of as Bracking 
and Braintree, but now known by the one name, is 
in Essex, and the church was existing here in 
1550, and still exists." 

Mr. Davies then gives me a list of twenty-three 
additional churches, none of which were organized 
later than 1640, and all of which are existing at 
the present time, and all regular Baptist churches. 
The list is as follows : 

Crowle, Lincolnshire county, organized in 1599 

Epworth, Lincolnshire county, organized in 1599 

Tiverton, Devonshire county, organized in 1607 

Plymouth, Devonshire county, organized in 1640 

Kingsbridge, Devonshire county, organized in 1640 

Dartmouth, Devonshire county, organized in 1640 

Warford, Cheshire county, organized in 1600 

Stoney Stratford, Buckinghamshire Co., organized in 1623 

Newbury, Berkshire county, organized in 1640 

Kingstanley, Gloucestershire county, organized in. . 1640 

Smarden, Kent county, organized in 1640 

Bethnalgreen, London, organized in 1640 

Stoke Newington, London, organized in 1638 

White Chapel, London, organized in 1633 

Misterton, Nottinghamshire county, organized in . . 1610 

Oxford, Oxfordshire county, organized in 1600 

Bridge water, Somersetshire county, organized in. . . 1600 



278 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

Wedmore, Somersetshire county, organized in 1600 

Alcester, Warwickshire county, organized in 1640 

Coventry, Warwickshire county, organized in 1626 

Warwick, Warwickshire county, organized in 1640 

Wrexham, Wales, organized in 1630 

Dublin, Ireland, organized in 1640 

Here we have a list of twenty-six regular Bap- 
tist churches, all of them existing at the present- 
time, the youngest of which is more than two hun- 
dred and fifty years old, and the oldest certainly 
three hundred and seventy, and most probably 
more than five hundred years old. The circum- 
stantial evidence is strongly in favor of the exist- 
ence of this old church in Cheshire as early as 1357. 

This carries us back of the reformation of the 
sixteenth century in a regular line of church suc- 
cession, with every evidence, except the church 
records which were destroyed, that churches of 
this faith had long before this time existed in 
England. 

The Baptists in America have been shown to 
have descended, in regular succession, from the 
English and Welsh Baptists. Baptist ministers, 
with regular ordination and baptism, came over 
from England and Wales in numerous instances^ 
and commenced at once to establish churches. In 
one instance a whole church came from Wales, 
which has been traced church by church in regu- 
lar succession, from Pennsylvania, through South 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 279 

Carolina and into Tennessee, to a number of 
existing churches, with a present living ministry 
which these churches have sent out into other 
States. 

Commencing at the other end of the line we 
have found organized churches for a period of 
four hundred years, beginning with the apostles. 
Before the church at Jerusalem was extinct, the 
church at Antioch was in existence. Ignatius was 
pastor of this church in A. D. 115, when he was 
exposed to the fury of wild beasts. The church 
at Smyrna was in existence long before this time, 
for Polycarp was its pastor from A. D. 81 to 166, 
when he was burned. 

The church at Lyons, France, was in existence 
in A. D. 180, for Irenseus was its pastor at this 
time, and continued in this capacity until A. D. 
200. At this time, A. D. 200, the church at 
Carthage was in existence, and continued as a 
single church for a period of two hundred years, 
or until A. D. 400. 

We thus see that the only Wilderness period 
of the churches is that period of time when they 
cannot be traced church by church, and even then 
we can look back into it, by the dawning light of 
the reformation, and still see them in existence 
for a period of two hundred years before the dark- 
ness was entirely lifted. 



280 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

All this intervening time a people have been 
shown to exist who held to principles which char- 
acterize Baptists, and as one of the leading prin- 
ciples of Baptist doctrine is that a church of Jesus 
Christ is a body of believers called out and con- 
vened together, we must conclude that the prin- 
ciples could not have continued to exist without 
churches to perpetuate them. 

History therefore bears witness to the declara- 
tion of Christ, that against His church the gates 
of the underworld should not prevail. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 281 



CHAPTEE XXII. 

BEANCHES OF THE EOMAN CATHOLIC 
CHUECH. 

IT is often stated by ministers of other denomi- 
nations that the Baptists are a branch of the 
church of Christ. It has been clearly shown .that 
they have never affiliated with Eome. They have 
always rejected her baptisms and ordinations. 
The Catholics themselves admit that the Baptists 
are the only people with whom they have any 
fight to make. 

Nearly all other denominations trace their origin 
to the Catholic church, and most of them are 
traceable to the Roman Catholic church. If these 
organizations are branches of the church of Christ, 
then it follows, as surely as effect follows cause, 
that the Catholic church is the church of Christ. 

It may be answered that many persons have, 
according to our history, been coming out of 
Eome all along the past centuries, and became 
great leaders among the Baptists, such as Waldo, 
Peter de Bruce, Arnold and the leaders among 
the Paulicians. It is true that many of these 
came from the Catholics, but it is also true that in 



282 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

coming from the Catholics they were received by 
those with whom they became identified, only on 
condition that they would renounce their former 
baptism and be baptized at the hands of regular 
Baptists, just as Baptists receive Pedobaptists to- 
day. This was done while the Catholics still prac- 
ticed immersion. Even their immersions were 
not recognized as valid baptism, after the Catho- 
lics had departed so far from the faith as to be no 
longer regarded as the true churches of Christ. 
For this reason these people were all called Ana- 
baptists. 

Baptists repudiate the insinuation that their 
churches are a branch of the church of Christ, but 
claim that their 's are the true churches, and those 
who came to them from Rome came singly and 
individually, and were received in the same way 
as others. 

The denominations which came out of Rome 
did not come out this way. They all came out in 
a reformation, claiming that the spotless bride of 
Christ had become corrupt, and brought with them 
only Romish baptism and Romish ordination. 
For this reason the Catholics claim to have no 
fight to make with them, but that they are dis- 
obedient children. 

Space will not allow us to mention but a few of 
the leading denominations with which the Baptists 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 283 

have come in contact, and this is done, not with 
any unkind feeling, but that Baptist history may 
stand out in the bold relief to which it is entitled, 
and that the world may know why we do not recog- 
nize these ''branches" of Eome as churches of 
Christ. 

While we do not recognize these reforms as 
true churches, let it be understood that we do 
recognize their converted members as real Chris- 
tians. The Baptist principle is, and always has 
been that the new birth is prerequisite to baptism, 
and baptism prerequisite to church membership. 
Baptism and church membership have nothing to 
do with any one's salvation, but much with the 
Christian's obedience. With Baptists it is the 
blood of Christ, always, before baptism, and bap- 
tism before church membership. 

The Presbyterian Church. 

The first branch of the Roman Catholic church 
which claims our attention, because the oldest, is 
the Presbyterian church. John Calvin has usually 
had the credit of having been the founder of the 
Presbyterian church. While it is true he gave 
that church its present character, it is not true 
that he was its founder. Mosheim, D'Aubigne 
and Dr. J. Newton Brown, all attribute the origin 
of the Presbyterian church to TJlric Zwingle. 



284 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

This organization came into existence in the 
year 1527, in Zurich, Switzerland, and was a re- 
sult of the reformation of the sixteenth century. 
It was known in its earliest existence, and is al- 
ways spoken of by Mosheim, as the Reformed 
church. Soon after its separation from the Catho- 
lic church John Calvin became identified with it, 
•and had more to do with moulding its character 
than any other man. 

D'Aubigne, in his History of the Reformation, 
vol. 3, p. 233, in speaking of Zwingle's efforts for 
the reformation, says: "Thus did Zwingle vindi- 
cate the rights of the people, whom Rome had 
■deprived of their privileges. The assembly before 
which he was speaking was not, in his judgment, 
the church of Zurich, but its first representative. 
This was the beginning of the Presbyterian system 
in the age of the Reformation. Zwingle was with- 
drawing Zurich from the jurisdiction of the Bishop 
of Constance, separating it from the Latin hier- 
archy, and founding on this idea of the flock, of 
the Christian assembly, a new ecclesiastical con- 
stitution, to which other countries were afterwards 
to adhere." 

The Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge 
under article, Zwinglius (Ulricus) says: " Zwing- 
lius (meaning Zwingle) was by no means disposed 
to lose an opportunity of unfolding his doctrine 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY 285 

before a numerous auditory, which appeared to be 
disposed in his favor. He therefore repaired to 
Berne, accompanied by several Swiss and German 
theologians, who all assembled at Zurich towards 
the end of the year 1527. As soon as Zwinglius 
arrived at Berne, the convocation began its sit- 
tings, at which the great council assisted in a 
body. The ten theses, composed by Haller, con- 
taining the essential points of Zwinglius' doctrine, 
were successfully discussed. Zwinglius and those 
of his party defended them with so much success, 
that they gained over a great number of the clergy 
to their doctrines. The conference at Berne was 
very serviceable to the cause of reform, from the 
splendor reflected on it by the union of so many 
celebrated men. The town adopted the reformed 
worship, and, in the space of four months, all the 
municipalities of the canton followed the ex- 
ample." 

Mosheim, vol. 3, p. 103, says : "The reformed 
church, founded by Zwingle and Calvin, differs 
considerably, in its nature and constitution, from 
all other ecclesiastical communities." The same 
author, p. 105, says: "The reformed church had 
scarcely been founded in Switzerland by Zwingle, 
when the Christian hero fell in a battle that was 
fought, in 1530, between the Protestants of Zurich, 
and their Roman Catholic compatriots, who drew 
the sword in defence of popery." 



286 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

On the death of Luther, in 1546, an effort was 
made to form a union of the Keformed church and 
the Lutherans, and this movement was facilitated, 
says Mosheim, by the theological system which 
was adopted by John Calvin. There was a failure, 
however, to unite the two denominations, and 
Calvin infused his doctrines into the Keformed 
church. On this subject Mosheim says : 

"In the year 1541, John Calvin, who surpassed 
almost all the doctors of this age in laborious ap- 
plication, constancy of mind, force of eloquence, 
and extent of genius, returned to Geneva, whence 
the opposition of his enemies had obliged him to 
retire. On his settlement in that city the affairs 
of the new church were committed to his direction; 
and he acquired also a high degree of influence in 
the political administration of that republic. This 
event changed entirely the face of affairs and gave 
a new aspect to the Reformed church."* 

There can be no doubt that Calvin taught sacra- 
mental salvation. He believed that Christ's real 
presence was in the elements of the Lord's Sup- 
per. Mosheim, vol. 2, p. 110, says: "Calvin 
observed among other things that the divine grace 
was conferred upon sinners, and sealed to them 
by the celebration of the Lord's Supper." 

I think it is clearly made out that Zwingle, and 

*Mosheim, vol. 2, p. 108. 






COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 287 

not Calvin, was the founder of the Presbyterian 
church. 

I here subjoin an extract from a sermon, by 
Dr. Thomas Guthrie, of Edinburgh, Scotland, in 
his book of sermons called "Gospel in Ezekiel." 
On page 212, of this book, this distinguished 
Presbyterian preacher says : 

' ' Three hundred years ago, our church, with an 
open Bible on her banner, and this motto, ' Search 
the Scriptures, ' in its scroll, marched out from the 
gates of Rome. Did they come clean out of 
Babylon? Experience shows that it is much easier 
to leave our mother country than drop our mother 
tongue. Across the seas which they sail, and to 
the lands which they settle on, the emigrants 
carry their prejudices, passions, and even super- 
stitions. They people the glens and valleys of the 
new world with fairies that dance on the green, 
and the spectres that walk by night among the 
haunted ruins of the old country. So I fear that 
on departing from the church of Rome, we carried 
into our Protestantism — as was not unnatural — 
some of her ancient superstitions ; just as our 
fathers carried into their practice some of her in- 
tolerant principles. We cannot approve of their 
intolerance, yet it admits of an apology. They 
had been suckled by the wolf, and it is no great 
wonder that, with the milk of the wolf, they should 
have imbibed something of her nature." 



288 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

This candid statement of Dr. Guthrie that the 
Presbyterian church, when it came out of Home, 
brought with it some Romish superstitions is 
equally as applicable to some other organizations 
which came out of Rome, as it is to the Pres- 
byterian. 

The Presbyterians have been persecuted both 
by the Episcopalians and the Catholics. They 
have also, when they have had the power, in like 
manner persecuted others. The Presbyterian, at 
this time, is the established church in Scotland. 
Its baptisms and ordinations have descended di- 
rect from the Romish church, and its unpreten- 
tious claims to being only a branch of the church 
of Christ is true, if the Catholic be that church. 

The Cumberland Presbyterian Church. 

The Cumberland Presbyterian church branched 
off from the Presbyterian church in 1810, in just 
the same way that the latter came from the 
Roman Catholic church. The causes were, how- 
ever, not so grave and were produced by questions 
of church polity rather than doctrine. 

About the year 1805, there arose a remarkable 
revival of religion among a portion of the Presby- 
terian church in the western part of Kentucky and 
Tennessee. Meetings were held in the open air, 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 289 

and multitudes nocked together from long dis- 
tances. This, says Milner, was the origin of 
camp meetings. As the number of converts was 
very great, and religion was extended into desti- 
tute places, a necessity arose for an increased 
number of ministers. In order to meet this emer- 
gency some persons were introduced into the 
ministerial office without having the necessary 
education, as required by the Presbyterian church. 
It was supposed also that these men were not 
altogether in accord with some of the doctrines of 
the Presbyterian church. 

The Synod of Kentucky, to which the Cumber- 
land Presbytery belonged, looked into the matter, 
and a commission was appointed with full powers 
to act in the place of the Synod. This commis- 
sion required all persons belonging to the Cum- 
berland Presbytery, who had been ordained, or 
licensed, without an examination on all the 
branches of learning or doctrine required in their 
Confession of Faith, to appear before them for a 
regular examination. To this demand the Pres- 
bytery refused to submit. The commission then 
passed a resolution prohibiting such persons from 
exercising any official duties. 

The Presbytery appealed to the General As- 
sembly for a redress of grievances, but after wait- 
ing five years, and failing in their endeavors, 



290 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

Revs. Samuel McAdow, Finis Ewing and Samuel 
King declared themselves independent and formed 
the Cumberland Presbyterian church. 

These men had all been ordained previously to 
their separation from the Presbyterian church, 
and their ordination was certainly as regular and 
valid as that of Zwingle or Calvin, the founders 
of the Presbyterian church, since the latter had 
only Romish ordination and Romish baptism. 

The doctrines of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
church are a modification of those contained in 
the Westminster Confession. They are strictly 
Presbyterian in government and order. 

The Episcopal Church, or Church of England. 

This church originated in the year 1534, and 
differed very little in its beginning from the 
Roman Catholic church, out of which it came. 
Henry YIIL, of England, was its founder and 
was himself so staunch a Catholic that Leo, the 
pope of Rome, conferred on him the title of 
"Defender of the Faith." 

The Episcopal church originated as follows : 
Henry desired to obtain a divorce from his wife, 
Catharine, in order that he might marry Anne 
Boleyn, one of the queen's maids, who by her 
beauty of form and graces of mind had alienated 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 291 

the affections of the king from his wife. The pope 
desired to grant the king's request, but obstacles 
arose in the pope's way so that he was unable to 
comply with Henry's desire, and the king clandes- 
tinely married the queen's maid, and afterwards 
had his former marriage with Catharine annulled. 
These acts brought about a breach between Henry 
and the Catholic church, so that the king was de- 
clared the supreme head of the church of England. 

Henry afterwards caused Queen Anne to be 
beheaded, that he might marry Lady Jane Sey- 
mour, which he did the next day after his wife 
was executed. Just before her execution, Queen 
Anne ''sent her last message to the king and 
acknowledged the obligations which she owed 
him, in thus uniformly continuing his endeavors 
for her advancement: from a private gentlewoman, 
she said, he had first made her a marchioness, 
then a queen, and now, since he could raise her 
no higher in the world, he was sending her to be 
a saint in heaven."* She said to the lieutenant : 
"The executioner is, I hear, very expert ; and my 
neck is very slender," upon which she grasped it 
in her hand and smiled. 

The king had accused his wife of perfidy, and 
made this the pretext for her execution. From 
the time of Henry's marriage with Anne Boleyn, 

*Hunie's Hist, of Eng., vol. 3, p. 228. 



292 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

the church of England had a separate existence 
from the Roman Catholic church. 

The Episcopal church retained the ritual of the 
church of Rome in 'a modified sense, and Macau- 
lay says was a compromise between the Romish 
church and the Presbyterian. In Macaulay's His- 
tory of England, vol. 1, p. 40, he says : "To this 
day the constitution, the doctrines, and the ser- 
vices of the church retain the visible marks of the 
compromise from which she sprang. She occupies 
a middle position between the churches of Rome 
and Geneva. Her doctrinal confessions and dis- 
courses, composed by the Prostestants, set forth 
principles of theology in which Calvin or Knox 
would have found scarcely a word to disapprove. 
Her prayers and thanksgivings, derived from the 
ancient liturgies, are very generally such that 
Bishop Fisher or Cardinal Pole might have heart- 
ily joined in them." 

On page 42, the same author says : " Shrift was 
no part of her system. Yet she gently invited the 
dying penitent to confess his sins to a divine, and 
empowered her ministers to soothe the departing 
soul by an absolution, which breathes the very 
spirit of the old religion." 

Macaulay further says: "The king was to be 
the pope of his kingdom, the vicar of God, the 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. '293 

expositor of Catholic verity, the channel of sacra- 
mental graces."* 

This church has, during the three hundred and 
fifty years of its existence, been modeled to suit 
itself to the different State governments where its 
organizations have existed. In the United States 
of America its government has been largely modi- 
fied in order to adapt it to our American insti- 
tutions. 

The Episcopal church, by virtue of its establish- 
ment, having been supported by the royal arms, 
has not suffered persecutions to the same extent 
that others have. It however suffered severely at 
the hands of the Catholics for three years, begin- 
ning in 1555, under the short but cruel reign of 
" Bloody Mary."t 

It has never failed to persecute other denomi- 
nations and to enforce its own religion when op- 
portunity offered. 

The Episcopal church is a lineal descendent of 
the church of Eome. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church. 

The Methodist Episcopal church is an offshoot 
of the Episcopal church, or church of England, 
and is, therefore, one of the branches of the 
Romish hierarchy. It is properly, according to 

*Macaulay's Hist, of Eng., vol. 1, p. 43. 
fSee Hume's Hist, of Eng\, vol. 3, p. 419. 



294 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

the highest Methodist authorities, only about one 
hundred years old, though dating back as a society 
to the year 1729. It originated in a manner very 
similar to the Young Men's Christian Association. 
Mr. Benedict gives the following account of its 
origin : 

"In the month of November, 1729, John Wes- 
ley, who was at that time a fellow of Lincoln 
College, began to spend some evenings in reading 
the Grreek Testament, with Charles Wesley, stu- 
dent; Mr. Morgan, commoner of Christ's church; 
and Mr. Kirkham, of Merton College. Not ^mg 
after, two or three of the pupils of Mr. John 
Wesley, and one pupil of Mr. Charles Wesley, ob- 
tained leave to attend these meetings. They be- 
gan to visit the sick in different parts of the town, 
and the prisoners also, who were confined in the 
castle. Two years after they were joined by Mr. 
Ingham, of Queen's College, Mr. Broughton and 
Mr. Hervey; and in 1735, by the celebrated Mr. 
George Whitfield, then in his eighteenth year. 
At this time their number in Oxford amounted to 
about fourteen. They obtained their name from 
the exact regularity of their lives, which gave oc- 
casion to a young gentleman of Christ's church to 
say, ' Here is a new sect of Methodists sprung up ; ' 
alluding to a sect of ancient physicians who were 
called Methodists because they reduced the whole 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 295 

healing art to a few common principles, and 
brought it into some method and order."* 

These societies never claimed to be anything 
more than societies for more than fifty years after 
their formation. During all this time their min- 
isters never administered baptism, except as they 
were connected with some church organization, 
independent of the societies. Mr. Wesley did not 
claim that these societies were churches, during 
the first fifty years of their existence. Nor was 
baptism required of its members for fifty years 
after these societies came to be recognized as a 
church. Here is the statement of the late Rev. 
Dr. J. B. McFerrin, of Nashville, Tennessee, 
made before the General Conference, in Rich- 
mond, Yirginia, in the year 1886 : 

"I wonder how many of this General Confer- 
ence could tell, Mr. Chairman, when baptism was 
made a condition of membership in the Methodist 
church ! I wonder if you know yourself ! Fifty 
years ago, exactly, I happened to be in a Method- 
ist General Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio, and 
a rule was introduced into the Discipline, requir- 
ing baptism as a condition of membership. Until 
that time there never was a rule in the M. E. 
church, that ever I found, requiring a man to be 
baptized before he got into the church. We ran 
one hundred years after organization without 

*Benedict's Hist, of All Religions, p. 213. 



296 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

making baptism a rite of tfur worship. Wasn't 
that curious? And yet it is true. And then a 
great many of the brethren woke up to it. Why, 
sir, a great many preachers used to be licensed to 
preach, and actually went on a circuit, before they 
had been baptized. Bishop Paine himself was a 
young preacher, and came up to the Conference 
to be admitted, if he could, before his probation 
was out, before he had been baptized." 

This statement can be relied on, inasmuch as 
Dr. McFerrin was a distinguished minister of the 
M. E. church. 

Another "curious " fact in regard to the Meth- 
odist church is that regeneration, or the new birth, 
was not a condition of membership in these 
Methodist societies, which they are now pleased 
to call a church. Nor is it a condition of mem j 
bership at the present time, for they receive and 
baptize persons into their membership without this 
requirement. Thus the world and the church is 
wedded in Methodism. Mr. Wesley's first gen- 
eral rule for admission to membership into their 
societies reads as follows : 

"There is one only condition previously re- 
quired of those who desire admission into these 
societies, a desire to flee from the wrath to come, 
and be saved from their sins."* 

*Meth. Prot. Dis., 1857, p. 75. Also Relig. Denom., by 
Milner, p. 89. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 297 

It is a well known fact that Mr. Wesley, the 
founder of Methodism, was not a converted man 
until long after he commenced preaching. He 
was a member of the church of England and never 
a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, but 
a member only of the society which finally de- 
veloped into the M. E. church. 

In 1784, Mr. Wesley ordained Dr. Coke, who 
was a presbyter of the church of England, and 
sent him over to America, with Messrs. Whatcoat 
and Yasey , ' ' to convey to the American preachers 
the right to baptize and to administer the Lord's 
Supper, appointing Coke and Asbury to be joint 
superintendents over our brethren in North 
America."* 

The same author, Dr. Myers, says : ' ' The 
Methodist Episcopal church did not come into ex- 
istence merely by Mr. Wesley's ordaining Dr. 
Coke — nor by his appointing him and Asbury 
bishops — nor by Conference consenting to receive 
them as such — nor by Asbury 's ordination as dea- 
con, elder, and bishop, on three consecutive days 
— nor by the ordination of a number of deacons ; 
but its real existence dates from Sunday, January 
2d, 1785, when twelve men (previously ordained 
deacons) were ordained elders of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. * * * Then and thus was the 

^Disruption of the M. E. Church, p. 74. 

20 



298 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

Methodist Episcopal church born out of the socie- 
ties, and brought into being as a church, by bishops, 
who found Methodism a society and by the pre- 
rogatives they ~brought with them, converted it into 
a church, and continued to rule over it with de- 
fined powers, fixed by mutual consent."* 

Dr. Myers says that Mr. "Wesley "first conse- 
crated one for the office of a bishop that our Epis- 
copacy might descend from himself, "f 

This is a clear cut statement, from the very 
highest Methodist authority, of the origin of the 
M. E. church, with its regular succession from the 
Catholic church through the English channel. 
This distinguished author, Dr. Myers, says that 
it is a "generally accepted postulate among the 
Methodists that ordination is essential to the or- 
derly administration of the sacraments. "J 

This being true, the Methodists have no better 
authority for the administration of the ' ' sacra- 
ments" than that which is given by the pope of 
Rome, or the Romish priesthood, for they have, 
their own witnesses being true, descended in 
regular order from the Roman Catholic church 
and are a "branch" of that hierarchy, and not 
of Christ's church. 

-Disruption of the M. E. Church, pp. 81, 82. 
tlbid, p. 75. Jldem, p. 81. 






COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 299 



The Methodist Protestant Church. 

This church grew out from, or branched off 
from the Methodist Episcopal church in the year 
1828. The immediate cause of separation was the 
oppressive rule of the preachers of the M. E. 
church over the lay members. The private mem- 
bers had no voice in the transaction of business, 
or in the reception or exclusion of members. 
Nor had they any choice in the selection or main- 
tenance of their preachers. It was "taxation 
without representation." 

The Protestant Methodist Discipline states that 
numerous petitions were presented to the confer- 
ence of the M. E. church in 1824, praying for a 
representation of ministers and laymen in the rule 
making department ; but no change, either in the 
principle or the practical operations of the govern- 
ment, could be obtained.* 

The disaffected element then begun to form 
Union Societies in all parts of the United States 
"in order to ascertain the number of persons in 
the M. E. church friendly to a change in her gov- 
ernment." This measure, says the Discipline, was 
followed by much persecution of reformers. 

Conventions were accordingly held, and dele- 
gates elected to meet in general convention, pray- 

*Meth. Protestant Dis., p. 5. 



300 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

ing the general conference, of 1828, for represen- 
tation. In consequence of which action, says the 
Methodist Protestant Discipline, the reformers in 
different parts of the country were made to feel 
the displeasure of the men who were in power. 

In the fall of 1827, eleven ministers were sus- 
pended, and finally expelled from the M. E. church 
in Baltimore, as well as twenty-two laymen, for 
being members of the Union Society and support- 
ers of the mutual rights. About fifty of the fe- 
male friends of the suspended and expelled 
brethren immediately withdrew from the church, 
after addressing a letter to the preacher in charge 
in which they said: "To find our dear compan- 
ions, fathers, brothers, children and friends, treated 
as criminals and enemies, persecuted, suspended 
and expelled, denounced as backsliders and dis- 
turbers of the peace, and ourselves treated coldly 
and distantly by our former friends, and by our 
pastors ; and all for a mere difference of opinion 
about church government, is more than we feel 
bound in Christian charity longer to endure; and, 
therefore, we feel it our duty, in the fear of God, 
to withdraw from the church."* 

A memorial was then presented to the general 
conference praying that the government of the 
church might be made more representative. This, 
however, failed, and the reformers finding that 

*Meth. Prot. Dis., p. 7. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 301 

all hope of obtaining a change in the government 
of the church had vanished, withdrew in consider- 
able numbers, in different parts of the United 
States, and, in November, 1828, formed themselves 
into a separate church. 

The government of the Methodist Protestant 
church is a modified form of Episcopacy, while its 
doctrines remain substantially the same as those 
of the M. E. church. Their ordinations and bap- 
tism descended to them through the church of 
England and are therefore traceable to the church 
of Rome. If this church is a church of Christ, or 
a branch of the church of Christ, then the Catholic 
is a true church. 

The M. E. Church South. 

This church seceded from the M. E. church in 
1844, and, as its name indicates, was the result of 
sectional rather than doctrinal causes. The origin 
and history of the M. E. Church South is, there- 
fore, the same as that of the M. E. church with 
the exception of the secular causes which produced 
the disruption in 1844. 

Some little modifications have been made in its 
government since that time, and there is a show of 
lay representation, but this is only a show, as the 
ruling powers still remain in the general confer- 



302 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

ence, where a ministerial majority prevails. This 
great iron wheel with its broad track still crushes 
the rights of the individual members of their 
"Societies," and they have no voice in the recep- 
tion or exclusion of their members, nor in the se- 
lection of their pastors or elders. None of the 
members of the ' ' Societies 5 ' are members of the 
Methodist church proper, unless they at the same 
time belong to the conference, so that very few 
Methodists, properly speaking, are members of 
any church, the Methodists themselves being 
judge. 

The Methodist bishops are arbitrary in their 
rulings, and possess almost unlimited authority 
over the inferior ministry. The Holston (N. C.) 
Methodist, in replying recently to a correspondent 
with reference to the power of the bishops, said : 

"Does not our young brother know that antag- 
onism to the Episcopacy, to the bishops, to a 
bishop, is a bread and meat question? Does he 
not know that every man's appointments are at the 
disposal of the bishop? Does he not know that 
every man's salaried position, from fifty up to five 
thousand dollars, is at the disposal of the bishop ? 
This is tremendous power to put into the hands of 
one man or of a few men. What an incentive to 
quietness, submission, patience, non-resistance in 
the traveling preacher ! You will not find one man 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 303 

in a thousand that dares to kick against the pricks. 
It pays financially, temporally, to stand in with 
the bishops. They are only men — they are not 
angels, and if they were they would be fallible. 
Talk about Episcopal responsibility! Does W. L. 
R. covet a martyr's crown? Who is to arraign the 
bishop ? Who is to move against him in General 
Conference ? Does he know of anybody that wants 
to rush upon the thick bosses of a bishop's buck- 
ler? Is Samuel Steel, Tudor, McFerrin, Morrison 
or any of the so-called < giraffes ' going to do it ? 
Doesn't the ass know his master's voice, and the 
ox his master's crib? Are the strong men of the 
church the men that do not know, that do not 
consider? " 

This quotation from a Methodist paper suffi- 
ciently shows the arbitrary power of the bishops 
of the M. E. Church South in 1890. The govern- 
ment of this church is in direct conflict with the 
spirit of religious liberty and American independ- 
ence. Loyalty to Methodist church government 
and fidelity to the principles of a pure democracy 
cannot be buttoned up under the same waistcoat. 

In regard to doctrine, this church is faithful to 
the teachings of John Wesley, and through their 
books, inculcate the Romish doctrine of sacramen- 
tal salvation. In Mr. Wesley's notes on Acts 
22:16, he uses this language: "Baptism adminis- 



304 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

tered to real penitents, is both a means and seal of 
pardon. Nor did God ordinarily in the primitive 
church bestow this on any, unless through this 
means. " 

On Romans 6:3, he comments as follows : "In 
baptism we, through faith, are ingrafted into 
Christ, and we draw new spiritual life from this 
root, through his Spirit, who fashions us like unto 
him, and particularly with regard to his death and 
resurrection." 

Again in commenting on being born of water in 
John 3:5, Mr. Wesley says: "Except he experi- 
ence that great inward change by the Spirit, and 
be baptized (wherever baptism can be had) as the 
outward sign and means of it."* 

In Watson's Theological Institutes, part IV. 
(page 440), which is laid down in the Methodist 
Discipline for the first year's course of study for 
their young ministers, I find this language with 
reference to baptism : 

"JBaptism introduces the adult believer into the 
covenant of grace, and the church of Christ. * * * 
It secures, too, the gift of the Holy Spirit in those 
secret spiritual influences, by which the actual 
regeneration of those children who die in infancy 
is effected ; and which are a seed of life in those 
who are spared, to prepare them for instruction 

*See Wesley's Notes on N. T. The italics in these quo- 
tations are mine. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 305 

in the Word of God, as they are taught it by par- 
ental care, to incline their will and affections to 
good, and to begin and maintain in them the war 
against inward and outward evil, so that they may 
be divinely assisted, as reason strengthens, to 
make their calling and election sure." 

Certainly no one will dispute the fact that bap- 
tismal regeneration is taught in Methodist the- 
ology. This is easily accounted for when we 
consider that this church is one of the branches of 
the Catholic church. The corrupt fountain of 
Komanism has divided its turbid water into hun- 
dreds of streams to spread itself over the earth, 
like the flood cast out of the mouth of the serpent, 
(Rev. 12:15) to drown the true faith. 

If the principles of infant baptism as inculcated 
by the branches of the church of Rome were uni- 
versally practiced, the world would soon swallow 
the true churches. Then where would be the 
bride of Christ ! 

The Congregational Methodists. 

On the 5th day of January, 1891, a new organi- 
zation of Methodists came out of the M. E. Church 
South, in Yell county, Arkansas, and adopted the 
government of the Congregational Methodists. 
As a number of Congregational and Independent 



306 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

Methodist organizations have existed in other lo- 
calities, it remains to be seen whether this last 
will fall into line with them, or develop into a new 
order. This last grew out of Bishop Hargrove's 
arbitrary ruling in the case of Dr. Kelley, who 
vacated his pastorate for a time to engage in a 
political campaign. 

These Congregational Methodists say: "If the 
decision of Bishop Hargrove in the Kelley case is 
correct, the law of the church is defective, for it 
demonstrates the fact that too much power is 
vested in one man ; or, if incorrect then his deci- 
sion is a clear case of usurpation." They further 
say: " If a Presiding Elder has the right to wholly 
disregard the wishes of the church in the selection 
of a preacher, it argues the infallibility of the 
Bishop and his cabinet (which we deny, for all 
men are fallible), or else that the laity have no 
right to express an opinion as to who shall serve 
them. In either case it is legislation without re- 
presentation. 

"If the Bishop has the right to transfer a 
preacher whose improper conduct has rendered 
him no longer useful where he is known, it evinces 
the fact that the law is defective in allowing the 
Bishop to impose an unworthy man upon an inno- 
cent people. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 307 

" If a preacher in charge has a right to appoint 
at any time as many class leaders as he chooses, 
he may appoint them even while the quarterly 
conference is in session, for no other purpose than 
to carry out his plans, though they be in opposi- 
tion to the wishes of the church. Hence, again, 
we see the centralization of too much power in 
one man." 

For these and other reasons which they gave, 
and others which they said they might give, these 
Methodists procured their church letters, separated 
themselves in the most respectful manner from 
the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and formed 
themselves into a separate organization, "with a 
government more in harmony," they declared, 
' ' with our civil institutions and the rights of man 
as set forth in the Declaration of Independence 
and the divine law which requires all Christians to 
lay aside every weight or hindrance and pursue 
that course which will enable them to do the 
greatest amount of good in the world." 

This action shows the dissatisfaction growing 
out of the oppressive character of the government 
of the M. E. church. This new organization pro- 
poses to continue the doctrines of the M. E. 
church. Having just found out the unscriptural- 
ness of their church government, perhaps had they 
been induced to investigate the doctrines of this 



308 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

church, with the same scrutiny, they might have 
found much of it equally as unscriptural and out 
of harmony with the divine law. To purify a 
stream the fountain head must be made pure. 

The Lutheran Church. 

It is difficult to get the exact date of the origin 
of this church. Some writers of the Lutheran 
church claim that Luther did not originate a new 
church, but only amended the gravest errors and 
vices of the church of Rome, and restored it to a 
better condition. This, Luther attempted to do, 
with all the powers of his great mind, but the 
Catholic church had become too corrupt to be en- 
titled to the name of a true church, and could not 
be reformed from its apostate condition. 

Some writers date the origin of this church to 
the 31st of October, 1517, when Martin Luther, 
the great German reformer, nailed upon the 
church door at Wittenberg his ninety-five Theses 
against the infamous traffic in indulgences, in 
which the Catholic church was then engaged. 

Other writers place the date of its origin on the 
10th of December, 1520, when this fearless re- 
former, in the presence of a multitude of persons, 
committed to the flames the bull which Pope Lea 
X. had published against him. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 309 

There are other writers who say this church had 
its beginning on the 17th of April, 1529, when 
Luther was summoned before the Diet of Worms, 
and was required to recant his errors and desist 
from his erroneous career, when he replied : 
' '-Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise, so help me 
God. Amen!" 

I have found the date, 1552, more accurate 
than either of the others, since it did not assume 
an organized form, entirely independent of the 
Catholic church, until that time. (See Mosheim, 
vol. 2, p. 82). 

Every effort up to this time had been to produce 
a reformation in the church of Rome, rather than 
a secession from that body. Luther had labored 
all the time for a reformation, and in this he suc- 
ceeded, but it was not produced in the mother 
church, but seen in the numerous offshoots or 
branches, from that body. After all hope for a 
reformation in the Catholic church had failed, the 
Lutherans became a separate organization, retain- 
ing their Romish baptism and ordination. 

This church bears, in many respects, a strong 
likeness to its mother, and possesses many of her 
characteristics, but like all the other branches of 
the Catholic church, has much in it to admire. 

The Lutheran church practices infant baptism, 
and has formed a union with State governments 



310 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTOEY. 

everywhere the opportunity has been offered. It 
thus bears the marks of harlotry by incorporating 
unregenerate material in its membership, and in 
forming an unlawful union with State govern- 
ments. In this way it has been wedded to the 
world. 

The Lutheran is the established religion in 
Germany at the present time. They have perse- 
cuted other Christians for their faith as late as 
1835, of whom Rev. J. G. Oncken, the modern 
apostle to the German Baptists, was an illustrious 
example. 

The Congregationalists. 

A brief sketch of the origin of this body of 
Christians is necessary, owing to the intimate and 
not altogether pleasant relations, which existed 
between them and the Baptists in the early settle- 
ment of New England. Dr. J. Newton Brown 
says they have often been confounded with the 
Independents, and Mr. Benedict says that both 
denominations originated from the same source, 
they "being a branch of the English Dissenters." 

Dr. J. Newton Brown, in the Encyclopaedia of 
Religious Knowledge, places their origin in the 
year 1602, and gives the Rev. John Robinson as 
their founder. This church suffered severe perse- 
cutions in England, where it originated, on ac- 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 311 

count of the Act of Uniformity, and, in 1608, its 
members were driven to Holland where Mr. 
Robinson soon followed them. Mr. Benedict, in 
his History of All Religions, says : " It seems in- 
credible that the learned, accomplished, unassum- 
ing and inoffensive Robinson should neither be 
tolerated in his own country, nor suffered quietly 
to depart from it. Yet such was the fact. He 
left his own country by stealth, that he might 
elsewhere enjoy those rights which ought to 
belong to men in all countries." 

When the Congregationalists fled from England 
on account of persecutions, the embarkation was 
intended to be in the night, that it might escape 
the notice of the officers of the government. 
They were, however, discovered, and a troop of 
horsemen advanced on them as they were about 
to depart ; the little company separated and some 
were left behind. 

After remaining in Holland a few years, the 
younger members of Mr. Robinson's congregation 
resolved to embark for America. They accord- 
ingly took passage on the Mayflower, and, after a 
perilous voyage, landed at Plymouth Rock, on the 
22d of December, 1620, and begun the settlement 
of New England. 

On their further history I need not dwell. 
Every school boy who has read history, knows 
something of their persecutions and hardships. 



312 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

No sooner had they become well established in 
Massachusetts than they begun to persecute other 
denominations, especially the Baptists, on account 
of their opposition to infant baptism. They, 
whose fathers fled from England because of per- 
secutions for non-conformity, pursued the same 
course with non-conformists in New England, and 
under their rule some were banished and others 
were executed. 

We can agree with Swinton, in his History of 
the United States, when he asks, "What must we 
say of these things? We can only say that the 
Puritans thought they were right, and that, in that 
age, they had not learned the lesson of religious 
tolerance." It was at their hands that Obadiah 
Holmes suffered, and Dr. John Clarke and other 
Baptist ministers were imprisoned for preaching 
the gospel. 

The Congregationalists, together with the Inde- 
pendents, originated with the English Dissenters, 
and must forfeit their claim to be true churches, 
because they have persecuted others, which the 
true churches of Christ have never done. They 
have also incorporated unregenerate material in 
their membership by the practice of infant bap- 
tism, and are traceable, through the church of 
England to the Romish hierarchy for their bap- 
tism and ordination. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTOEY. 313 



The Campbellite Chukch. 

The Campbellites themselves date their origin 
as an ecclesiastical body to the year 1827, but 
their true origin is shown to be nearly twenty 
years earlier. 

They first called themselves Reformers, then 
Disciples of Christ, and next Christians, but are 
now, many of them, dissatisfied with that name. 
The world has given them the name Campbellite, 
from Alexander Campbell, their founder, and as 
it is the only name to distinguish them from all 
other denominations, it will likely adhere to them. 
There is no reproach in a name, provided one's 
principles are right. 

This sect originated as follows : About the year 
1811, Alexander Campbell, with his father, 
Thomas Campbell, and a number of others, left 
the Presbyterian church and formed themselves 
into an independent church. This church, which 
was called Brush Run, and located in Virginia, 
practiced sprinkling for baptism, both for adults 
and infants. 

Two days after the organization of the church, 
the Lord's Supper was administered, and it was 
observed that two of its members refused to par- 
take. On inquiry the reason was found in the 

21 



314: COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

fact that they had never been baptized, and fur- 
thermore they were not willing to accept sprink- 
ling for baptism, but demanded immersion. A 
discussion of two months followed, at the end of 
which time Thomas Campbell immersed three of 
the members. 

The inconsistency of Mr. Campbell in immers- 
ing without having been immersed himself, was 
apparent to all, and a discussion arose in regard 
to the validity of these baptisms. 

This discussion ended in Thomas and Alexander 
Campbell's decision to be immersed. Accordingly 
on the 12th of June, 1812, they were baptized by 
Matthias Luce, a Baptist minister. Four days 
after this, Thomas Campbell immersed thirteen 
other members of his church. 

The immersion of the Campbells by Mr. Luce 
seems to have been without any authority from 
any church. 

This, in brief, is the history of the origin of the 
first Campbellite church. For these facts the 
reader is referred to " Memoirs of Alexander 
Campbell," vol. 1, by Robert Richardson. 

Mr. Campbell's church became associated with 
the Red Stone Association of Baptists in Virginia, 
in 1813, and continued in this association for a 
time, when dissatisfaction arose in regard to their 
doctrinal views, upon the part of the association. 



COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 315 

Upon this Mr. Campbell's church dismissed about 
thirty of its members, including Alexander Camp- 
bell, to Wellsburg, Virginia, where they were con- 
stituted as a new church, and were admitted into 
the Mahoning Baptist Association of Ohio.* 
About the year 1827, this association withdrew 
from Mr. Campbell's church. 

From this simple statement of facts we learn : 

First. That Alexander CampbelFwith a num- 
ber of other disaffected Presbyterians organized 
themselves into a church. 

Second. Becoming dissatisfied with their bap- 
tism, Mr. Campbell applied to a Mr. Luce, a 
Baptist preacher, and was baptized by him. 

Third. That Alexander Campbell and his father 
baptized the rest of their members. 

Fourth. That Mr. Campbell's church attached 
itself to a Baptist association, which, after a time, 
withdrew fellowship from the same. This was 
about the year 1827. Hence they date their 
origin to that time. 

Fifth. That Mr. Campbell never was a mem- 
ber of a Baptist church. 

It follows, therefore, that if the Baptist churches 
were not true churches at the time Mr. Campbell 
was baptized, that he had only apostate baptism, 
for he was baptized by a Baptist preacher. If 

*See Gospel in Water, by Jarrell. Also Religious 
Denom. of the World, by Milner. 



316 COMPENDIUM OF BAPTIST HISTORY. 

Baptist churches were true churches at that time, 
they are still the true churches of Christ, and Mr. 
Campbell and his followers departed from the 
faith. Here is a dilemma, and they are impaled 
upon either horn they take. 

The Campbellite churches 'are independent one 
of another, but Mr. Campbell brought with him 
an Episcopal feature which is seen running through 
the whole of their churches. 

Their ministers seem to be independent of their 
churches, going ahead of them and administering 
baptism and the Lord's Supper without the 
authority of any church. While their churches 
are independent, of each other, their ministers are 
independent of them, thus maintaining this Epis- 
copal feature. 



INXDEMXI. 



PAGE. 

Albigenses, 80 

Anabaptists, 46, 70, 108, 194 

Anabaptists, Mosheim's Testimony to, 196 

Anabaptism, Edict Against, 197 

Anabaptism a Crime 202 

Ancient Use of the Term Bishop, 42, 43 

Arnoldists 101 

Baptists Not Protestants, . . j 178 

Baptismal Regeneration, 58 

Baptismal Churches, 91 

Baptisteries, 91, 274 

Baptists and Religious Liberty, 250, 253, 254 

Baxter, Richard, Intolerance of, 208 

Bishop Bossuet's Testimony, » 100 

Branches of the Roman Catholic Church, 281 

Bunyan, Imprisonment of, 210 

Calvin, John, 177 

Campbell, A., on Baptist Succession, 258 

Catholicism, Rise of, 63 

Catholicism, Corruptions of, 172 

Catholicism, Intolerance of, 174 

Catholics Baptize by Immersion, 91 

Catholics on Religious Liberty, 173 

Communion, Associational, 248 

Conventicle Act, 213 

Corruptions of Priests, 149 

Church Succession, 261 



318 INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Donatists, 49, 71 

Donatists, Faith of, 52 

Dutch Baptists, 136, 257 

Edicts Against Rebaptism, 51, 133 

Edicts Against Puritans, Paterines, etc., 96 

Edicts Against Waldenses, 109, 113, 115, 185 

English Baptists, Origin of, 270, 272 

Faith of Montanists, Novatians and Donatists, 52 

Feasts of Ass and Fools, 144, 145 

First Pope in Succession, 141 

First Record of an Infant's Baptism, 60 

Five Mile Act, :.214 

Henricians, , 99 

Henry IV. of Germany at the Feet of the Pope, 151 

Hill Cliffe Church, 274 

Immersion, Trine, 148 

[mage Worship, 143 

Imposition of Hands, 248 

Infant Baptism, Rise of, 57 

Infant Baptism, Evils of, 58 

Infant Baptism Enforced, 140 

Infant Communion, 146 

Indulgences, Tetzel's, 16& 

Lollards, 135 

Luther, Martin, 136 

Lyonists, 103, 105 

Massacre of Paulicians, 147 

Montanists, 45 

Montenses, 71 

Mosheim's Testimony to Origin of the Baptists, . . 136, 137 
Munster Riots, 180 



INDEX. 319 

PAGE. 

Novatians, 47 

Novatian's Baptism, 47 

Ordination, Importance of, 124 

Paulicians, Rise of, 72 

Paulieians, Faith of, , 77 

Paterines, 48, 90 

Paterines, Faith of 93 

Petrobrusians, 97 

Pope of Rome Deposes Emperors 150, 151, 164 

Protests at Spires 178 

Pulpit Affiliation, 247 

Ravenna, Council of, 143 

Raymond VI. Chastised 154 

Religious Liberty, Enactments Against, 230 

Roman Catholicism, Origin of, 147 

Romanism, Intolerance of 230 

Saw Mill Church, S. C, 224 

Spring Hill Church, Tenn., 224 

Sprinkling and Pouring for Baptism, Origin of, . . 142, 143 

Tertullian Opposes Infant Baptism, 58 

Tran substantiation, 145 

Travelling Church, 226 

Uniformity Act, 212 

Valdenses, 67, 106 

Washington on Baptist Loyalty, 254 

Waldo, Peter, 103 

Waldenses, Ill 

Waldenses, Faith of, 117 

Waldensean Confession of Faith, 118 

Waldenses, Ancient and Modern, 180 



320 , INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Waldenses Driven from Valleys of Piedmont, 190 

Welsh Tract Church and its Successors, 223 

Welsh Baptists, Origin of, 264 

Williams, Roger, Not the Founder of American Bap- 
tists, : 217 

Wesley on Baptismal Regeneration, 304 

Watson on Baptismal Regeneration 304 

Ypeij and Dermout, Testimony of, 257 

Zwingle, Ulric, 177 






